Death Note: Another Side, Another Story
by wemomonkey
Summary: How much can one man do with a notebook? A boy in America finds himself with a Death Note and a Shinigami watching over him. He sees the world falling to pieces around him. Can he possibly be the one to raise society from its ashes?
1. Bell

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter One

Bell

_RING!!!_

Over one thousand students burst through the class room doors throughout the entire school building, talking loudly and filling the halls within a matter of seconds. The first day is over. They all made it through, some without homework, others with a bunch of papers for their parents or guardians to sign. Steven Leitch was among one of those students, stepping out in the middle of the crowd with the rest of his sixth period math class. Their teacher, Mrs. Dutton, wasn't the worst teacher ever. But he could tell after just an hour with her that he wouldn't be able to stand much of her annoying way of rambling on about things.

And then there were the two people in his 'group'. Devin and Ashley. Devin was maybe the stupidest junior he knew. Tall, hairy, yet with a charming appearance. He had a dumb opinion to almost everything and when he laughed, he'd laughed with his entire mouth, leaning forward into your face. And then there was Ashley, who wasn't as dumb but Steven could tell right off the bat that she had a crush on Devin. The two talked about pointless things that entire class and she laughed along with him about every single stupid little thing. Steven was the quiet one in the group; he knew it and didn't mind it. Being the quiet one was better than being a retard or a stalker like his team mates.

Steven sighed through his nose, trying hard not to think of such things as he made his way down the hall toward the commons where the doors that led out to the buses usually were. He didn't see anyone he knew along the way, until a group of Mexicans came walking in front of him laughing and holding something. Steven frowned. He had those same Mexicans in his math class and they spent the entire time squabbling over nothing. They seemed to be holding a black notebook or something and were flipping through it with glee.

"Aw, it's in English." One said and the other laughed dumbly next to him.

Steven ignored them and continued his way down the hallway when suddenly…

Somebody screamed behind him. Steven stopped and made to turn around but was shoved out of the way by non-other than Mr. Bailey, the old, squat, black security guard who roamed the school halls.

Steven stumbled backwards to see what all the commotion was about and was shocked to see that the group of three Mexicans who he'd seen laughing had all abruptly fallen dead on the spot, clutching their chests and gurgling foam from their mouths. Steven gasped in horror, watching the scene unfold as Mr. Bailey tried to stop one from jerking around on the floor.

"SOMEONE GET THE NURSE!" Mr. Bailey roared.

But there was a crowd of people surrounding them, all talking and crying out at what they saw over each other's shoulders. Steven saw something on the floor behind Mr. Bailey. It was next to the stairs. The little black notebook that the Mexicans had just been holding. He could see two white words on the front cover, but he couldn't make out what they were.

Looking around, Steven saw that everyone was focusing their attention on the scene. Steven silently moved through the crowd and bent over to pick up the book. And finally he saw what the words there said.

**DEATH NOTE**

Death note? Steven wondered, for a split second, that if someone touched the note they would die and it would be a reasonable explanation for why the Mexicans had just fallen. But that thought soon died away for such a thing was impossible. He looked over and saw more teachers rushing to the scene. If they caught him holding this it would look kind of suspicious. Such a thing, even if it were fake, he wouldn't want to risk being caught with a strange thing called a "Death Note".

And so he quickly slung his backpack around his shoulder and stuffed the notebook quickly into one of the compartments. It was probably fake, that's what he thought at the time. He could simply just use it as a normal notebook for now. After-all, it was just a silly prank…But then why would the three kids behind him fall to their demise just now? Was it just a coincidence that they were holding a book with the word "Death" written upon it?

He didn't have time to think much more on the matter. The teachers were pushing people away and forcing them to leave. Steven could see fat little Rosie, a Mexican girl, sobbing on the sidelines and staring at one of the faces of the people on the ground. Steven winced, trying hard to rid his memory of that face as he was siphoned through the crowd of students outside to where all the buses stood parked in a line before them.

People were in a panic, talking about the incident that had just taken place a few minutes ago inside. As Steven made his way toward the bus, he knew already that it would probably make the 6:00 news. He hated the news, but he was sure that many of the students would watch it today in order to find out what had happened. But he had been right there. Nothing had happened. They'd all simply died of, what looked like, cardiac arrests, or heart attacks.

It wasn't long until Steven found himself in the third row inside of the bus, sitting there with a blank expression on his face and looking out the window with wide eyes. What were the odds of that seriously happening, though? Three heart attacks at the exact same time to the same three people who just happened to be friends and just happened to be holding a notebook with the word "Death" on it? It was almost painfully too coincidental.

"Steve-O!"

Steven looked up from his short spew of day dreaming to find one of his best friends boarding the bus calling out his nickname: Steve-O. He had many nicknames like this. There was Wemo, which meant werewolf emo. That was back when he had long hair and had a very emo personality itself. And his other most common nickname was Bush, founded by his friend, Catheryne Baker. He'd adopted that name because of the beanie he almost always wore around with the word "Bush" labeled on the front of it.

The friend who was boarding the bus was not Catheryne Baker, however. It was Joshua Zito. Short, untidy brown hair, short, and average build. Every day he rode Steve's bus when in reality his bus was a few wheels behind them. Steve had gotten used to Zito's usual appearance on the bus. Almost every day after school the previous year, Zito would board it and come home with them where they would meet with their other good friend, Luke Bardsley, and hang out around the neighborhood.

Almost immediately, Steven turned to him as Zito took a seat in front, and said "Dude, did you see what happened?" and went on into retelling the story of the three Mexicans falling to their deaths inside the school.

"What?" Zito exclaimed when he finished and to Steve's surprise, he laughed. "Three Mexicans? Ha-ha, yeah right."

"Zito, I'm fucking serious!" Steven said loudly, a twinge of anger in his head that he didn't believe him. Though he couldn't blame Zito for not believing. He himself probably would've thought the story was ludicrous if he hadn't been there himself to witness it. "Mr. Bailey was there and everything, I—"

"Hey!" The bus driver snapped. "Watch your language!"

"Sorry." Steven apologized, only making Zito scoff once more.

The bus driver was an angry old woman who always took forever to pick them up in the mornings before school and yet she was always the first bus in line at the end of school. Steven did not want to get on the bad side of his only ride to Hazen so he forced himself to lower his voice and not cuss anymore.

"Whatever dude, three heart attacks?" Zito asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, three. To the same three people who were standing right next to each other." Steven told him again.

"What?" Zito shook his head. "I didn't see any dead people on the way here."

"They probably took them to the Nurse's office. Mr. Bailey was calling for a Nurse before I left." Steven said, recalling the scene in his head and wincing at the thought of the three dead boys on the floor. He'd never seen something like that before…Come to think of it, he'd never seen somebody die in front of him, period. It was a chilling feeling and it wouldn't go away. For some reason he felt as if talking about it to Zito, to anyone, would relieve him of the cold, uncomfortable sensation but it didn't.

"Why would they go to the nurse's office if they were dead?" Zito asked suddenly.

Steven frowned and looked at him. Wasn't it obvious? "So that they didn't have three dead bodies in the middle of the hallway, duh?"

Zito didn't say anything and simply looked out the window, as if trying to see if he could spot three corpses somewhere on the pavement. Steven sighed and knew his friend probably didn't believe him. Maybe that's why the sensation wasn't leaving. Because he wanted confirmation from somebody else. But he couldn't remember anybody who had seen the three mysterious heart attacks and talking to Luke about it was almost even more fruitless than trying to convince Zito that it had happened.

Three kids don't just drop dead from cardiac arrest at the same time, right next to each other every day. And it even sounded like a lie Steven would make up just to screw with his friends. He'd done stuff like that before and was cursing himself for it in his head. He'd never lie about death though. Wouldn't they know that by now?

…Maybe not.

The image of the three deaths stayed in his head the whole bus ride home. Zito acted normally, talking to his acquaintances in the seats nearby like Benny and Armando. Steven remained silent, staring at the window. He was well aware that Zito had probably noticed this, and when Zito asked "Are you still thinking about the heart attacks or whatever?" it only confirmed to him that Steven was indeed acting as if he was going through some personal drama. But he knew what he'd seen wasn't a lie. Steven had hoped that ever since Michelle, he'd…

Steven sighed and quickly forced himself not to think of that subject. Instead he turned and looked at Zito slowly, giving him a false smile and saying "No, it's alright. I'm fine. Just thinking about…other stuff." Before returning to look out the window.

Zito shrugged and continued to laugh at Benny's ridiculously long hair.

Steven unlocked the front door with a key and opened it in order to allow himself, Zito, and his fifteen year old sister, Amanda, inside.

They all shrugged off their backpacks by the carpet, Amanda quickly walked off to her room down the hallways while Zito wandered into the kitchen moaning about being hungry. Steven didn't bother asking Amanda about the heart attacks. When he'd gotten on the bus she had already been there which meant she couldn't have seen them.

With a heavy grunt, he placed the key back inside the little, black box that hung on the outside of the door knob. He pressed the three buttons and clicked it inside.

"Why do you guys have that thing anyway?" Zito asked.

"So that we don't have to worry about losing the key whenever we go out." Steven responded simply, closing the door. "Only me and my family know the code and we change it every two weeks just in case so there's really no harm in having it out there as long as people don't know the code.

"Well, someone could just smash it open." Zito shrugged.

"If someone was that willing to break into my house I think they'd prefer to smash through the window instead." Steven said, picking his backpack up and setting it down on the coffee table. "C'mon, let's finish whatever homework we got."

After a few minutes, they had settled down in the living room with a slice of pizza on each of their plates and papers being filed out of their backpacks all over the place.

As Steven dug his way through to his books, Zito asked "So how was Government with Shaunesty?"

"It wasn't too bad." Steven admitted. "I got it with that kid, Kyle Hilmes."

Zito laughed. "Fire crotch?"

"Yeah."

"Sucks for you, man." Zito smirked. "You should switch to Crueger."

"I'm going to try and do that tomorrow." Steven said.

"Alright, cool."

Steven slipped his hand further through his notebooks and found himself touching the black front cover of the book he'd found on the ground. Having been so flustered by the three heart attacks, he'd almost forgotten the fact that he'd picked up a book near the scene of the deaths.

And as he looked down to confirm that it really was the book, he saw the familiar, haunting looking letters that spelled out: Death Note. Somehow knowing that three dead kids had just been holding this book and now it was inside his own house increased the chill that ran down his spine as he looked at it.

It was a good thing that Zito wasn't looking, for Steven's wasn't sure what kind of expression he had on his face at that moment. He turned away and dropped the backpack to the ground, the Death Note still hidden inside.

Why didn't Steven show his friend the notebook? Surely it looked cool and it would be a neat little prank book to mess around with. He could simply imagine the fun of writing down all the people's names that they hated into the death note and having a good laugh about it afterwards. But there was something, a strange feeling unlike the chill in his spine, that made him want to keep this death note a secret for now.

He didn't necessarily believe that the Death Note was real. Something like that couldn't be real. Steven didn't have time to think to hard on the matter. He had to focus on his homework. Let the Death Note wait until tonight. He'd look through it carefully and find out what the deal with it really was.

And so Steven focused on his homework. He had to read the first lesson for Government and answer three problems at the end of that chapter. Then he had to do the first three pages in the Lesson One Packet for his Math class. And finally, he had to take out all the yellow, white, and purple sheets that he'd gotten from each of his classes and get his mother to sign them all so he could turn them into the next day without getting them confused with one another. It wasn't too difficult of homework, but it was enough to occupy an hour of his day.

When he'd finished, Zito had finished as well. They both started playing the Playstation 2, the game system that Steven would soon be selling in order to get money for the Xbox 360. But even playing a fun game like Resident Evil 4 didn't completely put him at ease. Every now and again his mind would wander to the scene of the three boys falling from heart attack in the middle of the crowded hallway. His mind also wandered to the Death Note hidden inside his backpack lying on the floor next to his feet.

He had the strange desire to take it out and force Zito to go home but that would be unreasonable. Steven knew a good way to get Zito to go home would be to play a 1 player game and make him watch. It would bore him enough to want to go home, he was sure of it. But doing something like that just to look through a notebook was stupid. He could wait…

But watching the clock always made time seem to go by much slower than it actually was. Steve was sure that Zito didn't notice, but every few minutes he would cast a glance at the clock on the VCR to see what time it was only find that it had only passed a few minutes less than he'd been hoping.

"You're wasting your ammo, dude." Zito said as Steven pummeled another undead zombie with a blast with the shotgun.

"I don't care." Steven mumbled with frustration.

Zito yawned and got up to head in the kitchen. Steven wondered briefly if he was going to get milk or a banana like he usually did. And then his eyes wandered down to his backpack. It was still unzipped. In fact, he could see the black edge of the front cover to the Death Note inside. Would he have enough time just to flip through it and see what was written inside?

He could hear Zito thumping around in the kitchen, opening the refrigerator door and closing it a second later. "No pizza left?"

"Fix yourself a banana split if you want." Steven called while setting down the controller and quietly slipping the Death Note out from his backpack.

He heard Zito exclaim "Alright!" from the kitchen. Steven knew Zito loved Banana Splits. And it would give him enough time to at least scan the first few pages and see what was there.

An exhilarating feeling went through his fingers as he flipped open the front cover to stare down at nothing but a blank, lined, piece of notebook paper. The first page of many, but it was empty of words. Nothing.

Steven looked and was surprised to find white, scrawled writing on the inside cover. It was on a black backdrop and the writing looked like it had been hand written and yet printed at the same time…

Death Note

How to Use

I

The Human whose name is written in this note shall die.

This note will note take affect unless the writer—

The sound of Zito's footsteps drawing nearer told him that he was out of time. As fast as he could, he closed the notebook and set it back down into his backpack. By the time he'd picked up the controller, Zito had emerged savoring the look of his banana split, complete with chocolate syrup spread over it.

"So hungry!" He said, sitting down on the couch and digging into his pre-desert meal with a satisfied look on his face.

Steven continued playing the game, forcing his face not to look angry. There had been a bunch of rules on the inside of that cover. And he'd only managed to read one. So if someone's name was written in the notebook, they died? Yeah right. And what seemed to be the requirement that the second rule was talking about? He wanted to know badly and the temptation to kick Zito out grew but once more his reasoning told him not to. Let his friend enjoy the ice cream. He would read through the entire notebook tonight, that was for sure…

And so time wore on until finally it reached 7:00. Zito yawned, stretched, stood up, and did his usual pre-leave walk to the door, grunting while he slipped on his backpack.

"Going home?" Steve asked casually, turning off the game and flipping through television channels.

"Yeah, Steak-night I think." Zito said. "Seeyah." He walked out the door.

Steven sat there in silence, staring out the blinds of the window from his seat where he could see the outline of Zito's figure walking up the front lawn, onto the road, and out of sight.

He quickly reached down and pulled out the Death Note. This time there would be no interruptions. His parents were home, sure. It would be better if he went into his room saying he was going to finish his homework. His sister didn't care; she was probably too busy on the computer anyway. No distractions.

He gathered up all his homework and stuffed the Death Note in between two of his books. He carried them out of the living room and across the kitchen, down the hall, and finally into his bedroom where he closed the door behind him with his foot so that he could set all the books down on his bed. Without further ado, he pulled the Death Note back out from between his books and flipped it back open to the first page. And once again, he returned his attention to the rules on the inside of the front cover…

Death Note

How to Use

I

The Human whose name is written in this note shall die.

This note will not take affect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.

If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen.

If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.

After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

Steven stared at the inside of the cover with a wide eyed look. If this really was a prank, it was certainly well thought out. But of course, there were hundreds of different questions going through his head at that moment. Were these simply all the rules? There has to be more. He flipped to the back inside cover but there was nothing there.

"This…this must be fake. A joke…" He muttered.

He looked back at the rules and read the words "Heart Attack" and the image of the three Mexican students shuddering in pain before their death came back. They'd died of a heart attack…and if this death note really was the cause of that then their names must be in here written in here somewhere without a cause of death…

Steven began to flip through the pages. Each one looked exactly alike. He wondered what would happen if he ran out of space to write? Eventually that would happen. Unless you erased everything and wrote over it. What was he thinking!? This couldn't be real. It was just a prank—a joke! That's all…

And then he stopped about half-way through the pages. He'd seen something on one of them. He went back a few pages, determined to find what he'd seen and hoping that it wasn't what he was searching for…But…

There, written in the middle of one of the pages were three names.

_Anthony Louise_

_David Martinez_

_Manuel Escobar_

Steven sat there on his bed staring at the names in horror. They'd written their own names in the Death Note. They must've thought it was a joke just like how he was thinking right now. He remembered how they were complaining about it being in English. And then they died less than a minute later…Impossible. This couldn't just be a coincidence. It just was not possible…

But there were the names, as plain as day on the page before him. And the very same three were dead right now. It all fit together and yet it all seemed too impossible to be real. How could something like this exist? It just couldn't.

A Death Note…

16


	2. Experimentation

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Two

Experimentation

"Time for school, Steven."

His mother's voice abruptly woke Steven from his sleep as his blurry vision met a red glow coming from the side of his bed. He squinted and saw that it was his clock telling him that it was 6:20AM.

_Didn't I just go to bed?_ He wondered, grunting and rolling over to see the shape of his mom standing in the silhouette of the hallway, looking down on him as if waiting to see for herself that he would be getting up.

"I'm up." He told her, rubbing his eyes.

"Don't skip like last year." She warned him.

"Actually it was the year before last that I skipped, mom." Steven corrected her, remembering how he'd simply not gone to school for most of the last month in his sophomore year. He regretted that now for he'd lost quite a bit of credits. But he was over that stupid mistake and since then had been careful not to skip _too_ often. Though occasionally he'd leave school to go to his friend, Luke's, house instead, depending on how his day went.

His mom didn't seem to believe him as she turned and walked into the kitchen leaving him to get dressed. Steven remained in his bed for another few minutes, wondering how long he could risk spending his time just lying there and if he'd have enough time to get ready for school. The bus left in another twenty minutes and he needed at least fifteen minutes to get completely ready. Plus he had to take a shower. His scalp was itching, now that he thought about it.

Forcing his body to move, he crawled out of bed and rested his feet on the carpeted floor. Only his left foot landed on something flat and cold. Neither his floor nor carpet felt like that. He looked down, startled, and found the Death Note lying there half-open.

"Fuck." He muttered, suddenly alert. He grabbed it and shoved it under his pillows. His mom could've seen it just then. Had she? Wait…what did it matter if she did? Hell, it was dark in the room. There was a chance she didn't… But then…

He sighed and shook his head. It must've fallen out of his bed when he was asleep. He'd forgotten all about it during the peaceful dreams that he had and seeing the skeletal words on the front cover only reminded him of everything that had happened the previous day. The heart attacks. The Death Note. The rules.

Shaking his head he stood and grabbed some clothes. It wasn't until he was getting into the shower a few minutes later that he started to wonder if he dared to bring the Death Note to school with him. The school board would probably announce the deaths during the morning announcements to let everyone know why three students were suddenly no longer among them. Not that they would need to. Hundreds of kids must've already known by now. The crowd had been big when he'd witnessed the deaths. And gossip traveled fast. He wouldn't be surprised if some students were saying that they were stabbed brutally or something.

Steven stepped out of the shower, dried off his hair with a towel on a rack, and got dressed. He jelled his hair, put on his glasses, got rid of the remaining eye boogers, and sprayed deodorant underneath his arm pits. Ready for school just like that. And still he wasn't sure if he would be willing to risk bringing the Death Note. Would he be able to test out and see whether or not it was real?

Of course not! What was he thinking? Testing out something like that on a student? Nobody deserved that… Besides, it was probably fake. It was absurd to even be thinking like this. At least, that's what he thought at the time.

But as the clock ticked it's way closer to 6:42AM, Steven was holding the Death Note in his hands and staring down at his backpack with an apprehensive look on his face. Dare he bring it? He could test it out on a criminal who was going to be sentenced to death anyway. Or someone else who's done bad to the world. But that would take research. And he wasn't yet willing to go online or search through the television to find a suitable experiment for something like this. It just couldn't be real.

And he was going to prove that it wasn't today.

Amanda, his sister, left her room just as Steven slipped the notebook into his backpack between his math and History notebooks. It would blend in best considering they were both black and blue notebooks. And if someone were too look down into his backpack; they wouldn't be able to see the words "Death Note". He would just have to be careful today, that's all.

Waiting outside for the bus to come was always a pain, especially when it was cold and only 7 O'clock in the morning. He'd gotten there and just like the last morning, there were around eight others kids standing around him as well. All of them were freshmen from the looks of it, except his sister who was a sophomore.

As Steven waited patiently in the cold, he thought of everything he had in his backpack to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything at home. His parents had signed his homework sheets while he had been on the computer and he'd finished his assignments with Zito. Yup, nothing left to do. Nothing to worry about…except…

His mind wandered again to the death note and frowned. How was he going to experiment with something like this at school? It was obvious that he was going to have to try and write the name in of someone that he knew, but for that he'd need to know the full name. And if the notebook really did work then it would be have to be someone he didn't like, or was a nuisance to the school. Except Hazen didn't really have a whole lot of really evil people. Just bullies and bitches. And having a bad attitude didn't mean they'd have to be punished by death, does it?

And for the first time Steven began to realize that this Death Note, there was a good chance it was for real. The coincidence of the three simultaneous heart attacks yesterday was overwhelming evidence for that. He'd thought long and hard about it and couldn't come up with any other reasonable conclusion as to what could've happened.

The bus parked in front of him as the kids all climbed aboard. Steven sat down in the front few rows of seats and stared out the window with a glazed expression while the rest of the students all around him talked with groggy and feverish voices about nothing important.

He had to make sure the Death Note was real. He had to. And to do that, he was going to have to write someone's name in it today. But who's? Who would it be that would be of no use to this world and deserved to die? Who could he possibly think of?

Many names and faces crossed his mind. Even his friends and his ex-girlfriends. Of course, he'd never kill them. But thinking of everyone who he could kill had forced him to think of everyone he knew. His family, his friend's family. His cats, maybe. The rules didn't specify on animals. And then there were a bunch of other people he didn't consider friends but just acquaintances or people he nodded to in the halls but never really spoken with before.

Before he knew it, the bus was at school and he stood up to board off. His mind was still on people he could write into the death note and as he walked up to the school, he spotted a few people that he knew just barely but didn't know their last names and it would be weird if he just approached them suddenly asking for their last name. They might even give it to him, but then he'd become suspicious. And if this Death Note worked he did not want to be suspicious, especially after the three deaths yesterday.

Steven made his way into the building and across the entrance hall to the lunch room like he'd done the previous morning and every other morning last year. He could see Jacob, Zito and a couple others already sitting there as he walked around a few of the lunch tables where some of the more annoying, punk-wannabe sophomores were running around and laughing dimwittedly. Steven briefly imagined all of them falling dead at the same time if he were to write in all their names in the Death Note, but he didn't know any of their names, nor did he want to at the moment.

And so he took a seat next to Zito, who looked very sleepy and didn't seem to be paying much attention since his face was planted in his backpack. Then there was Jacob Allen. He was most definitely the strongest, and most eccentric of all Steven's friends. Very loud and very random. He had a lot of catch phrases and swore more than a drunken sailor. And despite his size, Jacob's arms, legs, and body all seemed to be made of muscle.

"Steven Leitch!" He called, slamming the edge of his palm on the table, waking Zito up.

"Asshole." Zito grumbled, returning to his backpack.

Steven forced on a smile as he cracked his knuckles and said "Jacob! What's up?"

"Nothing. Just masturbating—I mean messing—around with little Kirsten here." Jacob said, suddenly turning to wag his finger at his younger sister.

She was a freshman this year. Small but wearing dark clothing and a strange hat, she didn't really look anything like Jacob. But that was probably because they both had a weird parent issue that Steven didn't really know too much about. Jacob's family life was kind of a mystery. Whenever they talked to him about it he would always exaggerate and say his dad would beat him up and cuss really loudly. But they all doubted his life was really that rough. It was Jacob's mom who seemed scary. Steven remembered him and Zito seeing her once when they were hanging out with Jacob and the face she had on when she looked at him nearly made them shit themselves. Apparently his parents forced him to do ridiculous chores and made him get a job to pay for himself when it came to living with them.

Kirsten was sitting on the opposite side of Jacob with a friend of hers that Steven had never met before. And then there was Nick, a big, nerdy guy who was kind of friends with them. He was obsessed with the game, Halo and Halo 2 and every lunch he always seemed to have a bag of McDonalds or something with him. Of course they were nice and generally avoided calling him fat, especially to his face. Nick was a quiet kind of guy though and Steven always had the distinct feeling that he didn't like him for some reason.

"Hiya!!" Jacob roared, bashing his elbow into the table again. "Luke!"

Steven jerked his head up and was surprised to see their friend, Luke Bardsley come strolling into the lunch room.

Luke had long, brown hair that was always in a mess around his head. Skinny and muscular, he was the kind of guy who liked to get in small sparring matches with Jacob, but not in front of people. He wore sweatpants and had his black sweatshirt tied around his waist as if making a very odd fashion statement. At least, that's what people who didn't know Luke would think. Normally he didn't come to school because he'd dropped out during the last quarter of Junior year but it seemed he'd come back.

And when Steven asked him why he was back, he responded "I got a first period with Mr. Wilson."

"Then you gotta walk home?" Steven asked incredulously.

"Yup." Luke sat down and abruptly started coughing in his fist. Another thing about Luke was that he had a major allergy issue with almost everything. Even some of the things he ate. So it was no surprise when a few minutes later he started hacking away again when Jacob told another hilarious joke about something completely random.

Steven laughed and joined in on the fun like he usually did every morning but even as he did so, he wondered inside what it would be like if he didn't have these people around him. What if they'd all died? If their names were written in the Death Note…would they die? And for a brief second, he imagined all of them disappearing and him being alone at the table…

"BUTTSEX!!!" Jacob roared, twisting around in his seat and somehow punching his fist right into Luke's side. He coughed and blinked back tears of pain.

"Nice one, Jacob!" He said weakly, coughing into his fist and laughing.

The bell rang and they all stood from their seats. Kirsten and her friend looked quite happy to be away from them as they rushed through the double doors first. Steven stayed behind with Zito while watching Luke and Jacob wander off to head to their classes.

"Mr. Wilson, awesome." Zito yawned, standing up. "I got Jacob and Luke both in my class then. Sweet."

Mr. Wilson was now the new teacher for weight-training class. Their old teacher, Mr. O'Brian, or as some called him: OB, was probably one of the coolest old dudes they'd ever met. But Mr. Wilson was just some fat, mean guy. Why was he teaching a PE class?

"First period with them, huh?" Steven repeated, looking down at his feet as they walked.

"Yeah, it's gonna be awesome. Seeyah." Zito rushed off after Jacob and Luke as they both stepped outside into the back courtyard of the school grounds. Steven watched in silence as Zito ran and tackled Luke and Jacob from behind and a strange sensation of abandonment washed over him. He wished he could have a class with them too. Especially since his first period was History with Mr. Page, who he'd had last year already and was taking again just because his counselor couldn't find anywhere else to put him.

It really pissed him off, he thought as he made his way down the path by a group of girls laughing about something unimportant. He would rather have some kind of Language Arts class or a Creative Writing class like he'd signed up for but no. US History. And with Mr. Page. It might've been okay if he had a friend in that class but there was just a bunch of Juniors there. And all of the Juniors this year seemed to be just as retarded as the Sophomores and Freshmen. In fact, even a lot of the Seniors were truly conceded and stupid. Now that he thought about it, almost the entire population at the school seemed to be underdeveloped. Was it because this generation was more focused on drugs, cars, sex, money, and alcohol? Probably.

And then Steven thought about the Death Note. A lot of stupid people but none of them deserved to die….right?

Steven stepped up to the second portable building and opened the door into his History class. There were a few people already in their desks. Steven went to his seat in the back and set his backpack down on his desk. He was beginning to feel a little conceited himself. Thinking of being seen as a death ruler already when he didn't even know if the notebook was real or not. How could it be real? But then…how could it not be?

It was within the first five minutes of class when the voice the school's principle, Ms. Beeson, came on and announced the deaths of the three Mexican students. And just like how Steven had predicted, it seemed like most of the student body already knew. For the people in his History class didn't seem to be very shocked. They were, however, surprised that she would announce such a thing to the public just like that.

"Hearts attacks?" muttered the big, black boy sitting next to Steven as he took out his journal for notes. "What the fuck? Tch! I heard they got in a fight and stabbed each other or something."

Typical. Steven rolled his eyes as he flipped open his journal to where he'd finished writing his notes yesterday. He continued to listen to the conversation that went on by his side, however. The black boy was talking to a guy his size except he was white skinned and his head was the shape of a cracked walnut.

It was obvious from the get-go that they were both jocks and were definitely the ones to cause problems within a class room by acting either goofy, or tough. And sometimes both. Steven generally didn't have much of a problem with them as long as they didn't interrupt him or start anything with him. Which they usually didn't. All he had to do was pretend like he could get along with them. It wasn't too difficult. The white guy in front probably wouldn't even understand sarcasm when he heard it anyway.

"Stabbed?" The white guy repeated. "Nah, dude. I was there. They just collapsed or some shit."

"Like fell, just like that?" The black boy asked.

"Yeah, that's what 'fell' means, man."

Steven decided their pointless rambling was boring him faster than one of Mr. Page's speeches and decided to listen to their teacher as he tried to calm down the classroom for not only had the two boys talked about the incident but the rest of the class was as well.

Steven's eyes narrowed as he stared at the blank piece of notebook paper in front of him and imagined the Death Note lying before him instead. Was there anyone in this classroom worth willing to kill?

No, of course not. They were all just mindless idiots. And idiots don't deserve to die. They just need to be shown how not to be idiots and give them a couple years they'll turn out to be capable individuals. If he was going to kill someone, it would have to be someone truly despicable. Someone evil. Someone nobody would miss. And then the truth of the Death Note can finally come to light. But who? That is the question at hand. Who did he dare attempt to kill?

Half-way through the class period and Mr. Page had managed to stop the side-talking about the heart attacks. He was now teaching them about the colonial days in America when British Colonies had taken over the once French lands and managed to take control of most of middle America while the Spanish had the south and the French were stuck in the North. Steven wrote notes and listened carefully, determined to try and keep his mind off the Death Note, at least for now so that he wouldn't get a migraine from thinking of the same thing all morning long.

And then he remembered that today he had promised Zito that he would try and switch his schedule so that he would have Government with him second period instead of with his other teacher, Mrs. Shaunesty.

He fumbled his hand into his pocket and took out the crumpled, white piece of paper that was his schedule. Unfolding it, he looked down and read it in his head to refresh his memory on what classes he had.

U.S. HistoryMr. PageP2

U.S. Gov.Mrs. ShaunestyP1

Ind. LivingMs. Swift

Essential ScienceMr. McCarron

Comp. Graphic ArtMr. Goodboy700

Segmented MathMs. Dutton

Going through it in his head, he wondered how on earth he would manage to convince Mrs. Shaunesty to allow him to switch to Crueger's class instead with Zito. The problem was that she knew Zito had that class with Crueger and knew that he and Zito were best friends. If that came into play then there would be no point in asking.

And then it hit him. He had a plan. He wouldn't be taking Government with Zito, instead…

"Steve-O! What!?" Zito exclaimed as Steven entered the Independent Living Class room taught by Ms. Swift during fifth period. He'd just gotten back from having lunch and was ready to show off his surprise.

"Hey, Zito." He said with a smile. "I switched my schedule around a bit and now I got this class fifth period instead of third."

"What do you have third?" Zito asked curiously.

"Mejelli." Steven replied, sitting down at a table next to him.

Mr. Mejelli was the woodshop teacher. His classroom was right across from Mr. Goodboy's so he dropped computers and went with woodshop instead. Even though he'd already taken it the previous year. He'd taken Goodboy's class three times.

"Awesome!" Zito said with a laugh. "You got a class with me and Baker, now!"

Baker, eh? Catheryne Baker was a girl whom they'd been good friends with for almost a year. She started to really hang out with them last year during lunch and she had two classes with Steven as well, at least back then. She was a very goofy and sparky. Always laughing about everything and not really taking things offensively.

"Bush!" She announced, when she entered the class, a look of shock on her face. "What're you doing here!?"

She always called Steven "Bush" because of the beanie he always used to wear that had the word "Bush" on it. He smirked and said "Little Baker! I switched classes around."

"That's cool." She giggled and then sat down in the pair of tables across from them. Before long all three of them were talking about random stuff like what they did during lunch and how apparently Zito had met a hot chick in his fourth period, woodshop, class. Before long the bell rang and Ms. Swift dismissed them to their last period.

Steven groaned mentally inside his head. Math with Ms. Dutton. What a pain. "Well guys, I'm off to special ed. Seeyah." He joked, walking down the hallway away from Baker and Zito as he made his way toward his final period…

Sixth period was almost just like yesterday's sixth period. Except only this time there was an absence of the three Mexican students. The class seemed much quieter, however. Since those three were all from this same class, people didn't seem very talkative. Steven didn't care much. He copied down his notes and did the assignment with his group until the time dawned to 2:03pm and the bell rang.

It wasn't until Steven was heading toward the door when the girl in his group, Ashley, approached him.

"What do you think happened to them?" She asked.

"Who?" Steven muttered, not really paying attention.

"Those guys. The ones who had the heart attacks?"

"Well, it sounds to me like they all died of heart attacks." Steven told her sarcastically. She smiled.

"Yeah, but…isn't it kind of weird?" She went on.

Steven frowned. "Well, maybe they really did all stab each other or something and the heart attack story is just a cover-up so that the school doesn't look bad." He knew this was a lie, of course. He'd been there himself.

"No, they died of heart attacks." Ashley said quietly.

"How do you know that?" Steven asked, stepping through the door.

"I was there."

Steven froze and looked at her. He'd almost forgotten how many people really did witness them dying. She'd been one of them, huh? But if she had been one of them, then there's a chance she knew he'd been there to… What if the reason she was asking him these questions was because she saw him pick up the Death Note? He'd been sure that nobody was looking…Or had he?

And if she knew he'd picked up the death note, then maybe she saw what the letters on the front said and is suspecting him of the crime…

"I was there to." He said suddenly, and she pulled off a look of surprise.

"You were?" She repeated. "But I thought you didn't believe the story?"

"It was just an idea. I was seeing if you thought anything of it, but since you were there then there was no point." Steven explained, emerging into the hallway with Ashley by his side.

"Did you see their faces?" She asked, almost too excitedly. As if she finally had someone to talk about this with.

Steven looked at her and nodded. He was still trying to decide if this girl was somehow secretly smarter than she appeared. She was a senior, apparently. And today she mentioned how she was in Running Start. He didn't know much about that program but he knew some semi-intelligent people who have joined it. If she'd seen him pick up the Death Note, then she'd be suspecting him right now. But there's no way, she doesn't know what the Death Note can do. She never looked inside; he's made sure of that. It's been hidden inside his backpack between his history and math books all day…

And then it hit him. His math book. He'd taken it out to work on group work… What if in that split second, she looked inside and saw the Death Note? _Impossible…this girl…_

He frowned as they continued walking and she described the Heart Attacks to him all over again. _She's trying to divert my attention to the Heart Attacks…_ He thought, smiling weakly and agreeing with her. _I'll play along; let her think I'm falling into her trap…_

"Now that I think about it, I think I saw you there." She said, pressing a finger to her lip.

Steven cheered inside. What an idiot girl. She wasn't as smart as she wanted to be, it appeared. Saying that confirmed his suspicions. If she'd seen him there, then she must've seen him pick up the Death Note. Why else would she be asking him these questions and bringing up this conversation now if she hadn't?

"Yeah, I didn't stick around though." Steven said. "Mr. Bailey was pushing us off, telling us to get away. Y'know?"

"Yeah…" Ashley paused. They were both standing on the exact spot where the three Mexicans had died. It had been an day since then…

"Well, I'm off." Steven said, beginning to walk away. "I'm sorry, I forgot your name?"

"Ashley." She told him with a smile.

"Ashley…?" Steven went on and she laughed.

"Ashley Peters."

"Ah, well I'll see you tomorrow, Ashley Peters." He grinned but inside he felt like laughing. _This girl truly wasn't as smart as she could've been. I can't risk asking for a last name from anyone else again though. Unless I'm dealing with retards like her, of course…_

And so he walked out the double doors with a heavy sigh, thinking over what had just happened carefully in his head until he arrived at his bus and sat down inside. He had her name. He had her face. And he had the Death Note. And there was a chance she was suspicious of him. A small one, but still a chance…

It looked like he'd found his experiment.

33


	3. Only Me

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Three

Only Me

The bus started up as Steven waited patiently in his seat, staring out the window in silence while Zito talked to Armando in the seat behind him.

"So, Armando…" Zito started, trying to think of an interesting conversation. "Ever had a girlfriend?"

Armando sheepishly nodded.

"Alright! Did she—y'know—got the smoking body?" Zito asked, making the hour-glass figure with his fingers.

Steven rolled his eyes and started wondering what he would do now that he had Ashley Peter's name.

Anyone could have seen him pick up that Death Note. There was a good chance they hadn't because of the commotion going on with the three heart attacks, but there was a strong possibility Ashley had seen him and there was also a chance that she saw the words "Death Note" written on the cover.

_How bothersome…_ He thought, looking down at his backpack. He'd told himself that morning that he would be testing the Death Note today to see if it really was real. But did he truly have it in him to kill somebody?

The whole bus ride home he didn't talk much. Zito tried to talk to him but he would simply nod or shake his head, occasionally smiling every time Zito made a joke about something. But his mind never wavered from the thought of killing. Could he do such a thing to someone?

His mind took him to the image of his past. The girl… Was she the reason he was so hesitant? Because he'd once thought that he'd been the reason for someone's suicide? Was it because of that incident that his views on death were so harsh? Did he have what it takes to risk killing someone with his own hands by simply writing down their name?

And suddenly he could feel the weight of it pounding down on him. Heavier than anything else he'd ever felt before. Sitting on this bus. If this notebook was real, then he could kill everyone on it. The Bus driver, the students, Zito… Even himself. Just with a simple name…How could something like this exist? This was a devil's book. It couldn't be real. He'd never believed in the black arts or anything like that.

"Dude, you alright?" Zito asked.

"Huh?" Steven snapped to attention. "What?"

"You look kind of pale, dude." Zito said with a raised eyebrow.

Steven smiled weakly. "Sorry, I think I'm coming down with something."

"Ah, that sucks." Zito looked away and Steven stared back down at his backpack, before leaning the side of his head against the window. He had a very disgruntled feeling in his stomach. Did he have what it takes?

They both finished their homework at Steven's coffee table just in time for Luke's arrival as he opened the front door and joined Zito on the sofa.

"Steve!" Luke said. "Drawn anything as of late?"

"Can't say I have." Steven sighed, packing away his math homework.

"I'm gonna play Resident Evil for a while." Zito said, getting up and putting in the Playstation game. In a matter of minutes, the creepy game screen came up on the big screen television that Steven had in his house. He could still remember the day he and his dad went T.V. searching and found this one for a cheap price.

"Oh! Steve!" Luke said suddenly. "Put in the Korn music and match it with the beginning video!"

"Oh yeah, huh?" Steven said, getting up. But before he could even start to think about where he'd left the CD, Zito had clicked "New Game" and Luke moaned.

"No! Zito! We gotta watch the beginning video" Luke said sadly.

"Huh?" Zito said in confusion.

"Remember when we listened to Korn during the beginning movie for this game?" Steven asked, trying to jog his friend's memory. "It matched so perfectly with this song."

"Huh." Zito said and both Steven and Luke got the slight impression that Zito didn't care.

"We'll do it some other time, I guess." Steven sighed, sitting back down.

"Ohhh! But it was so good." Luke exclaimed and started to sing "Don't let them throw me away!" out loud. Steven smirked and watched Zito start the game.

The three boys sat there for about two hours talking, playing, and discussing story ideas. Steven got up and brought in a bowl of chips for them and during this time for them to munch on. Steven finally felt like he could keep the worries of the Death Note behind him and just enjoy life.

But soon Zito got up and handed the controller to Steve, saying that he was going to go home. When he left, Luke brought up the idea to play the Korn song again and Steven obliged, getting up and finding it on top of the DVD player. On his way back he restarted the Playstation 2 and waited for the beginning movie to come back.

And then it happened. Steven pressed play and the song on the CD started up and together both boys started rocking out to the song and the video being shown. Just like last time, it was almost too perfect. The way the beat went along with the movie was wonderful. Steven took advantage of this time to enjoy himself and when it ended, Luke said "Do it again!"

Steven laughed but turned off the DVD. It was good but he wanted to start playing the actual game now.

"Awww." Luke sighed sadly, getting up to blow his nose.

With the absence of both his friends, Steven felt a strange sensation and his eyes snapped to his backpack where the death note was hidden. All of his thoughts about Ashley came back and a horribly crunching feeling entered his gut again.

Luke was there well into dinner time where he stayed for spaghetti and then left for home again. It was a good thing both of his best friends lived only a block down the road, making it easy for them to see each other almost every day. But every once in a while they'd all enjoy a day off just to have for themselves. Though Steven did like being with them, tonight was one of those nights where he dreaded having them there. He wanted to be alone to think. And finally he could.

Closing his bedroom door, Steven sat down on his bed and faced the cover page of the Death Note in his hands. This was it. The moment of truth. What was he going to do?

The next morning, Steven sat amongst his class mates during first period, History. Mr. Page was teaching the students about how the British King was treating the colonies in America poorly when suddenly his voice was drowned out the by intercom.

"Please excuse my interruption, but we've received some distressing news." said the voice of Ms. Beeson. "Another one of our students died last night from a heart attack."

The class room gasped in shock and suddenly everyone in the whole school was listening.

"We regret to inform you of the loss of this student. She went by the name was Ashley Peters and was a senior this year. She will be missed." Ms. Beeson's voice went on. "It is unknown what is causing the recent heart attacks, if there is a cause or if it is just a coincidence. But the school board is working hard to discover what is really going on." And then her voice abruptly died out.

Mr. Page looked down at all the student's, his eyes wide and his voice was quiet. Everyone else was talking to each other about the recent death except for one.

Steven looked down at his hands, his eyes wide. These hands, he thought…He was a murderer. He'd killed her.

And then his eyes traveled down to his backpack where the little black notebook lied hidden. The Death Note. It was real. It had to be. He'd written her name on the front page: Ashley Peters and thought of her face as he did so. And now she was dead. He hadn't written a cause of death because he wanted to make sure that she would die by a heart attack and she had!

The three Mexican Students wrote their own names foolishly in the Death Note as a joke and died exactly 40 seconds after that by Heart attacks. Ashley had seen it happen. This was it. The Death Note was real. He'd seen it with his very own eyes.

He was a murderer.

That's all he could think about for the rest of the day as he made his way to and fro between his classes. He'd tried hard to keep his attention on school work but it was nearly impossible. He'd been the reason for a girl's death. This was it. If he was found with the Death Note now with the names written inside he would become suspicious. He must not let anyone know of the Death Note's existence. It was his and his alone. Nobody would find out if he was careful.

But how careful did he have to be? He'd keep it from his family, his friends, and from everyone at school. Did he dare even bring it to school anymore? Should he cover up the letters "Death Note" on the cover page with a marker or a piece of paper so that in case people did see it they wouldn't think anything of it?

No. He could keep it at home. Keep it locked away and never take it out again. Never again would he use the Death Note. It was a weapon, probably the most dangerous weapon in the world. Sure a Nuclear Bomb could wipe out cities. But this little notebook could wipe out a nation. A country. Even a world, if he dared to. But no…

He never would. This thing was evil. The Death note…

But why not use it?

Steven wondered this for the next week as he went to school, did his work, hung out with his friends, and went out to have fun. The entire time he wondered why he couldn't use it.

There were certainly a lot of rotten people in the world today. Everywhere he went he heard side conversations. Girls wanting to go to parties and get drunk and have sex. Guys being perverted and twisted. Rapists on the news. Murderers. Conspiracies. Hackers. Pedophiles. Everyone these days seemed to be a bad person.

Would the world be better off without these people? It certainly seemed so. A perfect world seemed impossible. A utopia could never exist… But maybe. Maybe with the Death Note it could exist. And maybe Steven could deliver that world to them.

But did he have what it takes? A seventeen year old High school student with bellow average grades, a select group of good friends and an ambition to be an author? Did someone like him really have what it takes to change the world? To control death and use it?

What was he thinking!? That's what the other voice in his head would say whenever these thoughts occurred to him. Every night he seemed to argue with himself, twisting and turning in his bed as he tried to rid his mind of the Death Note. But he had it and it was with him. He would never be able to ignore it.

This was his burden. Or was it a gift? Which was it truly?

The weekend had come and gone and before he knew it he had lived through five days of school. The Heart Attacks had stopped and people were beginning to forget, or say that it was just a passing thing and was only coincidental. Steven remembered on the fourth day of school, people were thinking that there would be another heart attack announcement over the intercom but it never came.

Steven was still having trouble deciding what was best. It was a horrible feeling, being alone with a decision that nobody could know about except him. Especially when that decision could change his entire life along with everyone else's. And nobody would ever know…

He never talked with Zito or Luke about the Heart attacks. He was sure they knew about it but it probably wasn't very important to them. Just a horrible coincidence. That's what it was.

And then, after two weeks of going to school, Steven entered the bathroom and stared into the mirror. It was empty of students because it was during third period and he was in the 700 building outside where there were fewer classes of students who need to go to the bathroom. He'd gone not to take a piss or anything like that. He just felt hot in that classroom and it was clouding his concentration.

And so he stared at his reflection for about a minute. Steven looked over his spiked back hair and his eyes which looked strangely sunken. Was it because he'd not been getting enough sleep lately? His nose which was a little small and his bearded chin. Was this the face of a god for utopia? _Yeah right_, he thought. A god is supposed to be handsome, muscular, and emotionless. Steven was not emotionless. He wasn't exactly buff like Luke or Jacob. And he was far from handsome.

But he'd killed a girl not too long ago just for an experiment. Why had he done that? If he really didn't want to use the Death Note, then why did he bother finding out if it was real or not? Was it because he was just extremely curious? No. He wanted to use it. He liked thinking that maybe he could have a little control. He'd never been able to control his life perfectly and have everything he wanted. But with the Death Note he could. He'd be able to control his, and everyone else's life if he wanted to. He could do whatever he wanted with it. With the Death Note he was truly free.

"Yes…" He muttered finally and a smirk flickered across his face. "Only me. Only I can use it…" Steven glanced around the bathroom. Nobody was there. Nobody would be able to hear him. And quite suddenly he started to laugh under his breath.

The Death Note. Only he would be able to control everyone and everything. It was a gift! There was a reason he found it. Only he would be able to use such a thing. Anyone else would throw it away or use it for their own greedy purposes. Anyone else would be evil with it. Only he could destroy the evils in this world. Only he could use the Death Note for the good of the world.

But he would start slow, of course. Steven didn't need to take care of the whole world right away. He could get practice in. Get some experience. He could start by taking care of Hazen. And Renton City. But who could he kill? Surely a wide spread of deaths over a city would arouse suspicion. But maybe if people knew that there was someone out there dealing out heart attacks and death…then people would stop doing bad things. They would notice that only bad people are dying. And then when it starts to spread throughout the world, then everyone would stop doing bad things and his utopia would become a reality.

But there would be many who did not believe this was right. Steven knew this. The government would try and find out who he was. The School Board would surely become suspicious. Maybe he shouldn't kill so much, spread it out a bit. Make it less suspicious. But then his utopia would never happen. He would have to risk it. Nobody would be able to narrow it down onto a teenage boy in Hazen High School. Or maybe…

Maybe he could make them take notice that all the deaths seem to happen at Hazen. And then if anyone got involved in trying to find out who was causing the deaths, he could kill them off until people were afraid of trying to find out who was dying and then out of fear for death, they would stop doing bad deeds and stop trying to stop him. His dream would become reality. To be rid of this filthy world.

Ever since he was little, Steven always liked to think that he was of some importance to the world. That he would accomplish something great before he died. With this Death Note, he could accomplish something far greater than anything he could dream of doing without it.

The little voice in his head that questioned him before was gone. The Death Note had swarmed all other reasoning from his mind. This was what he was meant for. To cleanse the world of evil. It sounded dramatic but in his head it felt right. It was something he had to do now and nobody would be able to convince him otherwise. Nobody else had killed with it like he had and experienced the sensation. Nobody else knew about the Death Note except for him. And that is how it would always remain. He didn't need to know where the little black notebook had come from. Sure the rules had been written in English by someone. It was possible that there was someone out there who knew about this Death Note and would catch on if a widespread of heart attacks started to happen. What if that was his downfall?

Steven thought long and hard about this as he washed his face in the sink and glared back up into the mirror at his own reflection. His glasses lied discarded on the counter, allowing him to stare into his own bare eyes with a face of malice he'd never seen before etched across his face. He liked this look. Maybe he should consider getting contacts? No, his eyes were sensitive and he hated thinking of putting something little on it with his finger and having to take it off every night for every day for the rest of his life. Zito might be tolerant to do so but he certainly wasn't.

As the day wore on longer than ever, Steven sat through his classes as usual. He made sure to study people's actions so that he could remember if they were worthy of killing or not. Killing people in his own school would definitely draw attention to Hazen. Ideas of the future came to his head where he would be able to use this to his advantage somehow though he wasn't able to come up with a complete plan for it yet. His mind was very scattered all day long and soon he decided that he didn't want to be with his friends after school that day. Zito was going to be hanging out at Luke's house instead, it seemed. Steven made up an excuse that he had a lot of homework and didn't feel like hanging out today.

When he got home, Steven got inside first and set his backpack down on his bed in his room where he took a seat, unzipped his pack, and grabbed the Death Note in his hands.

"Now how do I do this?" He wondered out loud. "Who should I dare kill? The school will take notice. I wonder what will happen…" He smiled. "Who cares what happens right now. I can't be caught at the moment. I'll have some fun testing out what I can and can't do for the next week or so…"

It was odd. Steven usually didn't talk to himself. But something about having such an immense power made him burst with the desire to brag. How juvenile. He'd have to stop himself from doing such things from now on.

45


	4. Zando

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Four

Zando

The assembly was over and Steven found himself standing from his seat along with Zito as they made their way out of the Auditorium.

"At least we're getting our break back." Zito said groggily. Through the whole assembly he'd drifted back and forth between sleep. The assembly itself wasn't anything special. They got their logbooks and went through all the rules. At least they didn't have to go to third period. Steven didn't have anything against woodshop, except for some of the idiot juniors who liked to mess with Mr. Mejelli every day. But Steven himself was also quite tired.

It had been an entire week since he'd decided that he would use the Death Note to change the world. He'd spent a lot of late nights by himself thinking over what he should do but not once had he questioned that what he was doing wasn't right. They'd been in school three weeks now and already everyone around him seemed to be even more despicable than he'd already thought. Was this Death Note making him notice people's actions more clearly?

"You alright, man?" Zito asked suddenly.

Steven snapped to attention. "Huh? Oh, it's nothing. Just can't wait for lunch is all."

Zito gave a curt nod and said "Nacho day?"

"Yup."

"Awesome."

_Stupid, Steven…_ Steven thought with a frown as he moved in line behind Zito. He'd let his tiredness appear on his face. That was one of the many things he'd been working on and thinking about. Hiding his true emotions with his face and his words. Lying was second nature for him but there were times where his face would give it away. When he lied to his friends it would usually be about something unimportant or just for fun so he wouldn't bother trying to hide his emotions. This had been proven already when Zito mentioned earlier that he knew his "lying" face. Steven had decided that he could use this to his advantage somehow if he ever needed to pretend to lie simply pulling off the lying face that Zito recognized.

He'd come up with a list of things inside his head that he would need to do in front of his friends. The first would be to act the way his friends would typically think of him. If he started showing signs of being tired or concerned about something then they would wonder what was going on with him. Even at that moment he had a straight face on as he searched the crowd of students all around him.

Steven hoped he wouldn't be forced to lie too often to them. Keeping track of certain lies may prove later to be difficult. But if he continued to pull off obvious lies and use his "lying face" in front of Zito on top of being his normal self then he shouldn't arouse too much suspicion.

There were a lot of times where Steven wondered if he was being too precautious and that he didn't need to take things so seriously. But whenever he thought this, the image of Ashley Peters floated into his mind and he knew that if people were to ever find out that he was the one who killed her then he would be severely punished. He had to be cautious about everything. Even his best friends, no, especially his best friends.

"Bush!!"

Steven looked up as Baker stepped into fifth period, Independent Living, with her orange backpack strapped over her shoulder.

"Baker!" Steven said with a smile, setting his backpack down on his table.

"Did you finish your resume?" She asked, sitting down in her chair in the section of tables next to his and Zito's.

"Yeah, it's just one page though." Steven said lamely, pulling out the resume he'd worked on the previous night. It wasn't too impressive. He'd put a lot of skills in the beginning to make up for his lack of experience involving jobs.

"Lemme see." Baker said, taking it from his hands.

Steven sat there and looked at the door, waiting to see if Zito would come in while Baker scanned his resume.

"Joe Bardsley?" She said.

"Hm? Oh, that's Luke's dad." Steven muttered.

"You put all your friend's parents on here?"

"Sure, why not."

"Did you get their consent?"

Steven blinked dumbly. "Uh, no? Were we supposed to?"

"Yeah! Bush!" Baker said, throwing his resume at him and laughing.

Steven scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "Oh well, I didn't hear that rule. I'll just tell them some other time."

In truth, he'd thought about asking them but doing it like this was a more normal thing for Steven to do. He didn't want to look like he was suddenly doing all his homework perfectly all the sudden. He could work up to that moment another day.

Steven locked the front door behind him and entered his kitchen. His backpack fell onto the table as he went for some food and grabbed a banana from the basket on the counter. He paused for a second and actually looked down at the banana with an odd expression. Since when did he eat banana's? And why was this banana so old and rotten looking? Laughing at himself, he tossed the strange looking banana into the trash and cooked himself a pizza instead from the freezer.

Another day of school was over, nothing special happened. At least, that's what he would've thought if it wasn't for the Death Note. But for the past week he'd also been watching people's actions and getting their names for future purposes. He'd managed a page of people from the school that he'd seen doing something or saying something that was either greatly intolerable, or simply annoying. He probably wouldn't write all of their names in the Death Note. But if he kept notes on separate pieces of paper of their names then he would be able to use them for later just in case he did decide to kill them.

The Death Note itself was still completely empty. He'd decided it'd be best to erase the names of the Three Mexican students and Ashley. He wondered briefly if doing this would cause them to come back to life but he'd erased their names three days ago and there had been no news of any resurrections and his math class remained void of them which meant erasing their names wouldn't do anything and could also mean that if he had to he could erase names that he'd written in to make more space in the Death Note.

He ate his pizza and watched some television for about an hour before deciding to go into his room and do his homework. Luke was hanging out with his girlfriend today and Zito had plans to go B.B. Gunning with a few of his friends at Maplewood park. Steven was simply not in a mood to hang out today and had refused both their offers to hang out with them after school. Something, even he thought, wasn't a normal thing for him to do but he knew that they wouldn't mind.

Steven grasped his door knob and entered his room and was forced to drop his backpack. For what he saw sitting on his bed was something he had not anticipated.

At first, it looked like a person wearing black, tattered robes and was supporting a mop of long, messy raven hair. But a few seconds of staring and Steven knew this wasn't anything normal. It wasn't human, that was for sure. But it didn't look like anything else he'd ever seen in his life. It was a monster of some sort. He could see that now. The thing's arms were very long and skeletal and it was wearing a cluster of different shaped belts around its waist.

And then there was its face. The right eye could be seen from between the hair lines of its bangs. The eye was nearly bulging out from its socket. And its mouth was wide and had a frightening, almost silly grin. Its nose was flat like a snake's. And its skin was as pale as the moon. What the fuck was this thing?

When Steven had entered, the monster had looked up with a dumbfounded expression and stared at him without a word. For a few seconds they both remained where they were, staring at each other. And then Steven slowly stepped forward and closed the door.

"That won't be necessary." The thing said, pointing a bony, claw-like finger at him. "Nobody else but you can see me."

Steven blinked, staring speechlessly at him. At least, he thought it was a guy. Its voice was more masculine than if it were to be a girl.

"Not gonna talk?" The monster asked, tilting its head slightly. "Weird. You humans always surprise me. Most scream or let out some kind of emotion when they see a Shinigami."

Admittingly, he'd nearly shouted and fallen backward at the sight of this beast on his bed but his sister was home and he didn't want to cause a commotion. One of the reasons why he'd shut the door behind him. Besides…

"A Shinigami?" Steven asked with a frown.

"Death God." The thing replied, taking out what Steven recognized as a half-eaten banana and finished the rest of it in one gulp, throwing the peel on the ground behind him.

"Death God, huh…" Steven frowned. "So then I was right…"

"Huh?" The Shinigami blinked, this time he was confused. "Right about what?"

Steven walked over to his shelves, tearing his glance away from the creature on his bed, where he opened up the drawer and took out the Death Note that had been hidden underneath a bunch of socks.

"You came for this, right?" Steven said, holding up the notebook to show the reaper the cover.

And just like he'd expected, the Shinigami nodded. "Well, I didn't technically come for that…Wait, so you were expecting me?"

"Not exactly." Steven sighed, lowering the Death Note and glaring down at the banana peel. "I read and reread the rules in this thing and it doesn't look like it was written by any kind of human hand writing. Plus, it didn't say who published it or wrote such a thing. Because of the rules written inside I knew that someone must've had it before me but I didn't think that it would be a Death God."

And to Steven's surprise, the Shinigami laughed. "So you really do believe I'm a death god then? I remember once, one of the people I blessed with that notebook thought I was a man in a Halloween costume."

"I can tell you're real." Steven said. "And if I wanted I could just get Amanda in here. If she doesn't see you then you must be a real Death God, right?"

"I suppose." The Death God shrugged and scratched his chin.

"Anyway…" Steven went on "Ever since I made that realization that someone had written this thing, I figured I might end up meeting him one day. I didn't really expect to meet him in my bedroom, though…"

"So you were waiting for me, eh?"

"Yeah…"

Steven looked up with a frown still on his face. The Shinigami was looking back at him with his eye wide and unblinking. It was truly a strange looking thing, but it didn't frighten him. There were instances where Steven had actually been expecting a whole lot worse looking dude showing up. If anything, this Death God was rather tame in comparison to some of the images that went through his head earlier of what a Death God would really look like.

"Do you mind getting off my bed?" Steven asked politely.

The Shinigami didn't show any emotion on his face at this request. And after a moment's hesitation, it obliged and stood up. Steven walked over and took a seat on his bed, crossed his legs, and looked up. The Death God was taller than he had anticipated. So tall it had to hunch over from hitting his head on the ceiling. Or maybe it just had bad posture.

"I have a lot of questions for you." Steven said.

"I figured you would." The Shinigami smirked.

"Firstly, do you have a name?"

"Yeah. It's Zando."

"Zando?" Steven repeated with a raised eyebrow. "Sounds like a clown's name."

"Thanks." The Shinigami named Zando sneered.

"Second Question…" Steven began. "Why exactly are you here?"

Zando paused for a second before eyeing the Death Note. "That thing right there. When did you get it?"

"Almost a month ago."

"Ah. Well, you see. I dropped that Death Note on the ground about a month ago and I've been searching for it ever since. And I managed to trace it back to you at last." Zando told him.

This was what Steven had been expecting. "So you want to take it back?"

"Actually…I can't." Zando sighed.

Steven raised his eyebrow in surprise. "Why?" he asked.

"Well, you see, once a human takes over ownership of that notebook, then no Shinigami, including myself, can remove it from you unless you give it up willingly. And if you were to do so, then you would forget every memory involving the Death Note."

Steven looked down at the Notebook in his hands. So he was the rightful owner of it. He knew that for sure now and not even a God of Death could take that away from him?

"So you Shinigami have rules too, huh?" He asked.

"Yup…Sadly." Zando shrugged.

Steven frowned and crossed his arms. "Then when I die, do you get it back?"

"Yes…well, you see…" Zando seemed to smile even more wickedly than usual. "The rules are, when a human picks up the death note, it is theirs until they forfeit their rights of it to someone else. But when the person owning the Death Note dies, it becomes fair game and the first person to touch it becomes the owner. And since I'm a Shinigami belonging to this notebook I will follow you wherever you go until you die."

"So you'll end up taking it from me since you'll be there when I die, huh?" Steven sighed. "That makes sense. This Death Note was actually found by three other students at my school. The one who picked it up first must've been the owner."

"What!?" Zando exclaimed in shock.

"What?" Steven asked, taken aback by the Shinigami's surprise.

"But then, how come they're not the owners of the Death Note?" Zando asked.

"Because they were stupid enough to write their own names inside of it. They thought it was just a prank." Steven sighed. "Even if I thought this was a prank, I wouldn't have written my own name in it."

"So then how did you get it?" Zando asked.

"I was there when they all dropped dead. I found the Death Note lying next to them so I picked it up and left."

"Why'd you pick it up?"

Steven smiled. "Well, I was curious of course."

Steven never thought in a million years that he would be sitting there talking to a Death God so calmly in his bedroom. And Zando never thought a seventeen year old boy would be so accepting of him so quickly. It was abnormal…

"So how come only I can see you?" Steven asked.

"What? You mean you don't know already?" Zando smirked.

"Well, I have an idea…" Steven began. "Does only the rightful owner of this Death Note have the ability to see you?"

"Not exactly…" Zando said. "Anyone who touches that notebook will be able to see me. Whether it be the cover, back, or any of the inside pages. Doesn't matter. As long as they touch it once I'll appear before their eyes. But even if they touch it, if you are still the owner of it then you will remain the owner."

"I see." Steven nodded. "That makes things a bit more complicated. Guess I really can't bring my Death Note to school now since you'll be following me there and back every day, right?"

"I suppose." Zando sighed, looking longingly at the door. "Could I go get some more bananas?"

Steven scoffed. "You like bananas?"

"Well, you see, food in the Death God's Realm is rather poor and tastes like sand. And I've never tasted bananas that were so…delightful!" Zando exclaimed with a mad gleam in his eye. "Oh, I must've left one from my world in your kitchen!"

"Go ahead." Steven said with a wave of his hand. "I'll just say Zito ate them all or something if anyone notices that they're all gone. And don't worry, I found the one you left. It does look pretty disgusting..."

"Awesome!" Zando said, walking straight through the door and into the kitchen. Steven opened his door and followed after him. And then he watched, to his great surprise, his sister walk straight through Zando as if he wasn't there.

"What?" Amanda asked, seeing Steven's look of shock.

"Nothing. Just surprised to see you're not on the computer." Steven said, thinking quickly and changing his expression into a defiant smirk.

When Steven and Zando went back to his room, Steven lied down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling with his eyes narrowed while Zando went over to the closet and sat down in the clothes bin on the floor. He had a cluster of bananas in his hands and was eating them one by one with a look of delight on his face.

"So when you picked up those bananas, someone who wouldn't be able to see you would see the bananas floating in mid air, correct?" Steven asked, thinking it was obvious but wanting to make sure just in case.

"Yup!" Zando said merrily.

"Now I have some questions involving the Death Note." Steven said, still looking at the ceiling in concentration.

"Shoot." Zando replied.

"Alright…Well, I've read those rules that you wrote inside of it pretty carefully but there seem to be a lot of other stuff you didn't include." Steven said. "For example, what would happen if I tore out a page in the Death Note and wrote someone's name on the piece of paper?"

"Well, I don't know." Zando said simply. Steven glared over at the Shinigami, forcing Zando to lean back and hold his hands up defensively. "Hey, hey! I didn't create the Death Note or anything like that! Nor have I really been curious of what would happen if you did do something like that. The rules I wrote in the inside cover were rules that only I've had to follow, really!"

"Well as a human I have to be more careful when I write a name in there. It's not like you where you can do it whenever you want." Steven muttered scornfully. "I guess, since you don't know anything, I'll just have to try it out myself."

"Hey, you don't have to be so mean." Zando sighed with a banana sticking out from his mouth.

Steven ignored him and grabbed his backpack, where he preceded to take out a sleeve of notebook paper from inside. Zando watched curiously as he sat up and placed it down next to the open Notebook.

"What're you doing?" Zando asked.

"I'm going to complete my tests on people who are criminals." Steven said. "And also, I'm going to complete one on a student who goes to my school."

"Huh, why?" Zando asked dumbly.

"Well…" Steven went on, taking a newspaper out from his backpack. He'd gotten it from his Government Class to use on his Response Logs for Homework but now that he thought about it, surely there would be a lot of people in it who were either criminals or a menace to the public. And if he killed someone famous enough it would be all over the news. And nobody would be able to piece together that they were all from the same person. And when he explained this to Zando, the Shinigami nodded wisely but secretly didn't understand.

After an hour, Steven folded the News Paper up and threw it in the trash. He then shoved the notebook paper full of people's names from his school inside his backpack. Finally he closed his Death Note and smirked up at Zando. "Finished."

"Now what?" Zando asked.

"After school tomorrow, I'll find out if all the experiments worked or not. And then my questions will finally be answered." Steven said.

"How come you want to use the Death Note, anyway?" Zando asked absentmindedly.

Steven chuckled under his breath. "Well…" He began. "This world is a rotten place. Everywhere I go I see people who are bad guys and deserve to be punished. One day I'll focus on criminals but right now I am going to focus more on people that I personally know. Once my own life is rid of the filth of society then I'll focus on the rest of the nation. And when I'm an adult, the whole world. And I'll let people know that someone out there is killing people off by killing people with heart attacks only. People will realize that they're being punished and crime will stop. People will stop being idiots and will stop being rotten. The world will become a utopia created by me.

Of course, there will be people who will try to stop me. But if I'm careful enough, nobody will be able to narrow it down to me. And if they do narrow it down to my school, which I'm prepared for, then I will probably end up being followed or watched by someone. Most likely the government. But if I am ever stuck, then I'll simply burn the Death Note into nothing and any evidence of me being the murderer will be gone forever."

"But then you'll lose your utopia." Zando pointed out.

"That's why burning the Death Note will come only as a last resort." Steven said. "I am still human, Zando. I would rather stay alive without the Death Note than be in jail or worse with the Death Note in somebody else's hands."

Steven looked up at his ceiling and a flicker of light appeared in his eyes. "I will succeed, don't worry. And you'll be there the whole time watching."

Unknown to Steven, Zando, for some reason, had a truly evil look of glee on his face as he stared at the prodigy of his Death Note.

59


	5. Night Games

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Five

Night Games

The next day went smoothly. Steven sat through first period in silence; taking notes and listening to Mr. Page teach them. They were out of the colonial days of American History and were now learning about the Constitution and all of the articles and sections that were written in it. Funny thing was that Steven was learning almost the exact same thing in his government class the very next period.

When the bell rang, Steven packed up and went outside only to go next door to the portable room that belonged to Ms. Shaunesty. As always, he was the first one there. At least, that's what he thought. But a shadow moved out of the corner of his eye and he saw a boy named Garret sitting up from behind the teacher's desk.

"Hey, Steve!" Garret called with a friendly grin.

"Sup, Garret." Steven smirked, setting his backpack down on his table in the third row of seats. "Kill any people on Halo 3 lately?"

"Yeah." Garret's face seemed to lighten up. "I went online for the first time last night. It was hella bomb, dude!"

"I bet." Steven sighed and looked at the teacher's desk. "What were you doing back there, anyway?"

"Just looking for my notebook. I think I left it in here yesterday." Garret said, scratching the back of his head with a lame smile.

"Ah…" Steven turned and went back outside. Every morning in that class especially he had a tendency to stand out on the balcony of the portables and just absorb the fresh air. It would be the only time where he'd truly be able to think and not worry about anything else for the rest of the day.

As he leaned forward on the wooden railing outside and stared into the clear blue sky, people walked past him and entered his class. Something about this spot made him feel at peace. And he couldn't explain it…

"Alright class, quiet and do the warm ups." Ms. Shaunesty snapped as the bell rang. As usual, she had her fake sweet smile on her old, ugly face. Steven knew, like most others, that she was secretly a cruel hag who definitely had control issues growing up but they were all wise enough to not cross her path. All but one.

Kyle Hilmes. The red haired boy who sat next to him. Steven truthfully didn't care much for him because his voice was annoying and having to hear it in his ear every morning wasn't exactly pleasant. But what was pleasant was watching him get in spats with the teacher and be forced to leave the classroom because he was too stubborn to shut up.

And so Steven began his work, writing down the questions on the overhead…

Sean Church, a kid who sat two rows away from him, suddenly jolted up from his seat. Everyone in the room turned and looked at him in confusion. Ms. Shaunesty glared and said "Sean, sit down!"

But Sean wasn't listening. "I hate my life!!!" He roared, taking a knife from out of his pocket and abruptly slashing away at his throat with it.

Half the people in the class screamed as blood sprayed across his desk and down his torso. Sean gagged and fell backward onto the floor, flailing like a fish until his eyes rolled into the back of his head. People were up all around him trying to help but there was nothing that could be done. There were girls crying in the front of the classroom and Ms. Shaunesty was in a panic.

Steven was standing amongst the crowd with a shocked expression on his face but inside he was laughing with joy and unknown to the rest of the students in the room, Zando the Shinigami was standing directly behind him watching the scene with a curious expression.

"Now that was quite gruesome." Zando muttered with a grin.

So you could control what a person does before they die. This was what Steven realized after seeing the situation unfold before him. Last night, he'd written in the Death Note "Sean Church dies tomorrow during second period by bringing a knife to school secretly until announcing "I hate my life!" to the entire class and slitting his throat."

By the end of the day, he'd have to wait and see the rest of his experiments so that he would be able to compare them and see which worked and which didn't. But why kill Sean Church? He seemed to have an 'okay' attitude. To a normal person's eyes he didn't appear to be someone that deserved to die so brutally. But Steven had always had a secret grudge against him. And his death wouldn't matter greatly. He knew that much. In his eyes, he was just an unimportant, arrogant jerk and with the death note it was how they looked in his eyes that was important.

"Somebody call the ambulance! Get the principle down here, now!" Ms. Shaunesty barked and Steven saw that she truly looked mad. One of the boys in the circle around Sean's body rushed to the phone and began dialing…

It was lunch time and Steven was standing outside with the rest of his group in the courtyard where the buses usually dropped them off. They'd all eaten here during their lunches throughout the school years at Hazen and it was a nice place to just mess around with your buds. Plus they were hardly ever disturbed.

Zito and Jacob were there along with Jacob's sister, Kirsten and some of her friends. And then there was Katlynn Howser, a sophomore who hung out with them every lunch and had been sort of friends with them for over a year.

"Sean Church died, what!?" Zito asked with a raised eyebrow and a disbelieving expression.

"Yeah! Dude, I was right there! I saw it happen!" Steven said, looking between them all but avoiding Zito's eyes.

"What? Dude, whatever." Zito laughed.

"I'm serious!" Steven insisted.

"Who the fuck is Sean Church?" Jacob asked.

"Is he that singer guy?" Kirsten asked.

"Kirsten, shut the fuck up you fucking piece of shit!" Jacob scolded playfully. Kirsten and Katlynn both laughed but Steven continued to stand there looking shocked that they simply did not believe him.

Unknown to them, Zando was lying on the ground and staring hungrily at the banana in Zito's lunch tray. Steven noticed this and hoped that the Death God wouldn't try anything unwise and try to eat it in front of them. They would surely notice a floating banana being eaten in midair.

Steven sighed. "Fine, don't believe me…bastards." and he continued to eat his banana. However, as the lunch ended and they all went into fourth period, Steven had a wicked smirk on his face as he walked to Science with Zando following behind him in his wake.

"Why were you trying so hard to convince them that that kid died?" Zando asked curiously.

Steven sighed and decided it would be risky enough to say something. Nobody around him would really notice or care. "You'll see soon."

Zando blinked, confused by this statement but decided to believe him and entered Mr. McCarron's class by his side.

Halfway through fourth period, Ms. Beeson's voice came on over the intercom and the class fell silent.

"As some of you may know by this point, there was a recent tragedy that has struck the student body today during second period." She began. "A Senior committed suicide in front of his class and because of this; we will be having you all leave school early. This is not a privilege, but a time to respect the feelings for those who knew the boy and the family members who will deeply miss him. Students, you are dismissed from school."

"What!? Who died!?" a kid in the front row demanded abruptly, standing in his seat. "How come she didn't say who died!?"

"Shut the fuck up, you idiot!" Snapped the girl with blonde hair and a mean looking face behind him. The idiot boy fell silent and sat back down.

Mr. McCarron, flustered by this news, dismissed the class and Steven got up and left. He joined the rest of the crowds making their ways down the hallways. He caught bits and pieces of their conversations about who had died. Some people were already starting stupid rumors that it was a conspiracy or something.

"Dude, you were right!" Zito said, a shocked expression on his face.

"See, I fucking told you, dude!" Steven said.

"Wow, I thought you were just lying or something." Zito said, a look that said he was completely dumbfounded.

They were on the bus riding back to his house. Zando was sitting in a chair next to one of the students in front while Steven and Zito talked a few seats behind him.

Steven's plan had worked. During lunch he'd purposely done a lying face in front of Zito to make him think that he was lying about Sean's suicide but with confirmation that it wasn't a lie, Zito's faith in thinking that he could tell Steven's lying face was surely broken, or at least cracked in such a way that he would be confused about it and question whether or not he could truly tell if Steven was a good liar or not. And if Zito were to ever figure something like that out, then all he had to do was deny it and Zito would never be able to prove anything. It would just end up confusing him and he'd pretend like he didn't care while in truth he was laughing inside.

_It should make things interesting someday in the future if I am ever forced to really lie to Zito…_ He thought as they made their way off the bus and toward Luke's house.

The whole way there, Zando followed in silence. He'd taken the hint that Steven would never be able to talk to him in public and since he was always in public it meant that it would be on those nights where he was alone in his room doing homework that he would really be able to talk to him. But that was fine by him. For a Shinigami, there was no such thing as boredom in the human realm. He rarely got to go there anyway. It was much more exciting than his world anyway.

And then there was Steven himself. Out of all the people who'd had his death note before, none of them had lasted longer than a couple of weeks. But this kid seemed to think ahead and work out things. And what he pulled at school today proved that. He'd duped his best friend and caused someone to die right in front of them. Zando wondered if Steven realized how risky it was to have done something like that though he was sure that later that night he would explain everything to him. Until then, Zando would simply remain lost in what was going on and simply go with the flow of things.

"Steve!" Luke greeted as they arrived at Luke's house. Both Steven and Zito walked inside, sighing loudly after the walk there. It wasn't too long of a walk but Steven had always enjoyed the feeling of the carpet between his toes so, just for kicks, he took of his socks and shoes and walked across the carpeted living room barefooted.

"What are you doing?" Zito asked, laughing.

"Enjoying the carpet after a hard-days work of schoolness." Steven sighed and sat down in the comfortable brown armchair.

"What are you guys doing here so early?" Luke demanded, beating his fists together in confusion.

Steven and Zito both looked at each other and they were forcefully reminded of what Ms. Beeson had announced to them. When Steven decided to explain it, Luke stood there in shock for a few moments before narrowing his eyes.

"Are you lying?" He asked, staring at Steve suspiciously.

"No." Steven frowned, feeling an irk of annoyance but being careful not to show it on his face. Of course something like this would be hard to believe. As it was Sean Church, a kid they'd both known for a long time.

"He's serious, dude!" Zito said, raising his eyebrows and nodding with a kind of shocked expression on his face as if he couldn't believe it himself.

"I saw it happen…" Steven muttered, eyeing the floor with a frown. "It was just…kind of random. He shouted and slit his throat…and…"

"Whoa…" Luke ran his hand through his hair and wandered into the kitchen. Zando, who remained invisible to both of the friends, was looking down at Steven with a smirk.

"Nice performance." He said.

Steven ignored him and looked up to observe Luke's actions.

"So, Sean killed himself?" Luke asked after returning with a cup of water.

Steven nodded, glaring back down at the floor.

"And you saw it happen, Steve?" Luke asked.

"Yeah." Steve sighed.

"That's…really fucked up." Luke said simply and walked into the kitchen once again.

The rest of the day they avoided talking about the incident. Steven was sure Luke had formulated his own opinion on the matter but in reality what happened had happened and there was nothing that could be done or said to change it. And so Steven had fun watching youtube videos on the computer while his friends played Gauntlet on Luke's PS2.

However, even as they had fun, Steven had secretly gone on the internet to look at news articles while keeping the music that Luke liked turned on so that he wouldn't look up to see why he'd turned it off. If they looked and caught him, he'd simply tell them that he was looking for stories on his response logs in his government class. Zando saw this and began to lean over Steven's shoulder.

"What are you doing, huh?" The Death God asked.

Of course, Steven didn't answer. Instead he scrolled down until he reached something and a smile spread across his face. The article said:

_Criminal, Edward Mayan, who was in court for molesting twins last Saturday died in his cell block last night from a heart attack. His brother, Jonathan Mayan, was also found dead except with the words "Death is my master" written upon the walls of his cell block next to his body. _

Zando read the article in confusion, not understanding why Steven was taking such an interest in this. He watched as Steven searched through more articles with similar situations of deaths, all belonging to criminals or people suspected of a crime somewhere in the world. Steven exited the site and stood from his seat. "Gotta take a piss." He muttered like he usually did and left the room. Zando followed him out as Steven went to the bathroom. When he was in the hallway, Zando was taken aback because Steven was now beckoning for the Shinigami to join him in the bathroom.

"You want me to watch you piss?" He asked dumbly.

Steven closed the door and sat down on the lid to the toilet. "I'm not really going to the bathroom, idiot." He whispered. "I came in here for something else…"

He shuffled in his pocket and revealed a crumpled up piece of notebook paper. He unfolded it and on it was a list of names. At the top was Sean Church's, whose name had a check next to it. And Zando also recognized the names of all the criminals who'd died in their cell blocks.

"Hey, those are…" Zando started.

"I know." Steven whispered, making sure to keep his voice down. "I wrote down all the names of the people I did experiments on last night on a normal sheet of notebook paper to find out what I could and could not do with the death note." Steven pulled out a pencil and crossed out Edward Mayan's name however he placed a check next to Jonathan Mayan's name similar to how he'd put a check next to Sean's name.

"I'm confused, what do the crosses and checks mean?" Zando asked.

"Last night I wrote in the Death Note that Sean would die. The experiment was whether or not I could control what he says and if it was possible for him to hide a concealed weapon." Steven began. "So I put a check next to his name because both tests proved possible."

"And then there was Edward, who I wrote in the Death Note that he would escape from jail and run 5,000 miles in 40 seconds before dying of a heart attack. I knew it was obvious that such a feat was impossible but I wanted to see if the Death Note would make such a thing possible. But in the news article it said he died from a heart attack in his cell. So the experiment failed but now I know that I can't make my victims do something that isn't possible for them to do."

"But Ed's brother, Jonathan I wrote that he would write "Death is my Master" in quotation marks in the Death Note before taking his life. This experiment was a success according to the article which means I can control the victim's actions. Just from these three experiments alone I've concluded that as long as it is possible for them, I can control someone's actions before their death. And that alone could come in handy someday."

"What about all the other victims?" Zando asked.

"Well, one criminal's name I wrote on a ripped out piece of paper from the Death Note and he died of a heart attack which means ripping out paper from the Death Note won't take away the Death Note's powers." Steven continued. "This also means I can keep small pieces of it in my pocket when I go to school. I know it's risky because if anyone touches it then they'd see you but if I keep it hidden enough nobody should have a reason to find it in the first place."

"Then I tried making a criminal in jail try to kill his cell mate before taking his own life but it didn't work because according to one of the articles he just died of a heart attack. So while I can control someone's actions with the Death Note, I can't make them kill anyone."

"What happened to the victim of the person you tried to control?" Zando asked.

"He died of a heart attack as well since I wrote his name in the Death Note too." Steven said simply.

"Where did you manage to find all the faces for these criminals, anyway?" Zando smirked, curious to know this as it had been bugging him since the beginning of Steven's explanation.

"Online of course." Steven shrugged. "Usually on news sites they show a picture of the criminal so that if the public were to see them they could keep a watch out for him. It's nothing special. And I made sure that all the criminals who died lived in different areas of America so that someone wouldn't become too suspicious of simultaneous Heart Attacks in the same area. I don't want to cause a whole lot of attention right away."

"Any other experiments?" Zando asked.

"A couple but none worth noting." Steven sighed. "I've been here long enough. Prepare for another long silent treatment." He flushed the toilet and washed his hands even though he hadn't even really gone to the bathroom. Zando moaned with boredom and complained about how there weren't any bananas to eat anywhere for some reason. Steven joined his friends back in the living room and found that they were talking about the Sean incident once again.

_Great…_ He thought. _They must be sharing their opinions on the matter…_

"What was he thinking!?" Zito exclaimed as they played their game.

"Hmm. Obviously that kid had some kind emotional issue he never worked out." Luke muttered.

"Yeah, but, what kind of problems could he have?" Zito asked.

"Zito, we didn't know him very well." Steven said. "We don't know what kind of issues he could've had at home."

"Still, suicide?" and then Zito gave a kind of shutter as if the thought of it weirded him out.

"Did he act strange at all the day before?" Luke asked, turning to Steve.

"No, not really…Well, he did seem quieter and not as…how should I say…outspoken?" Steven answered.

"Jeez." Luke sighed and turned back to the game.

"There was nothing that we could've done. None of us could've predicted that Sean Church would kill himself right in the middle of class like that." Steven went on.

"Well, obviously." Luke muttered.

And so they did not talk about Sean after that. Luke and Zito continued to play their video game while Steven pretended to continue his research on news articles before getting off the computer and watching the game. He decided that after an hour of being kind of quiet while they played he could start to lighten up a bit and join in on their talk about the game.

"You guys want to stay for night games tonight?" Luke asked as the time wore on.

"Night games?" Steven repeated in shock.

"Yeah, Jesse decided to organize another one before he went off to Korea." Luke said.

Jesse was Luke's older brother. A Mormon at heart, but he was usually helpful when it came to planning night games, which were games that they played at night in Luke's backyard. It was the perfect place for night games, which usually had a lot of people joining in on the fun, as they ran around playing games like Bloody Bones and Sardines.

"Alright, I'll play." Steven said.

"Yeah, me too." Zito said. "Who's all coming?"

"I'm going to see if I can get Dez to come." Luke said. Dez was his girlfriend who lived in Kent. Lately she wasn't able to see very much of Luke because she was on phone restriction from her parents but if Luke called and asked them if Dez would be able to come over they'd probably still let her.

"There's a catch, though, if you guys come." Luke went on.

"What is it?" Steven asked.

"Justin is going to be there."

A loud groan came from both Steven and Zito. Justin Thatcher. The most annoying, and literally retarded kid he'd ever known. He hadn't seen much of Justin lately but at night games he would be even more moronic than usual.

"Why is _he_ coming?" Zito moaned.

"Well let's just say Jesse wasn't alone in planning the night games." Luke muttered.

"Who's Justin?" Zando asked Steven curiously but quickly remembered that Steven wouldn't be able to respond because he was around his friends. The Shinigami sighed sadly and kept quiet once again.

It was not long before Luke's parents came home along with his siblings, Jesse, Shayne, and Marie. Soon the whole house was buzzing with talk about the upcoming Night Games. Steven wondered if the news of Sean's suicide would reach the ears of Luke's family. Now that he thought about it, he didn't know how close they all were to Sean. Probably not too incredibly close.

"Is Nathan Bunch coming?" Steven asked as the sun began to set and some of Jesse's friends started to arrive.

"I don't know." Luke said matter-of-factly.

"He was friends with Sean so probably not." Steven sighed.

"Luke!" came the calling voice of Luke's dad from outside.

"Yeah!?" Luke tore himself away from Gauntlet and wandered into the kitchen.

"Have you called Dez to see if she can come over for night games yet?" Steven heard Luke's dad ask. "Because I can pick her up if she needs to when I go to get the pizza."

"She's got a car." Luke told him. "If they won't let her drive here on her own then they won't let her come at all."

"Alright, just making sure."

Luke came walking back into view except instead of coming into the living room he grabbed the phone and dialed Dez's number. Steven grabbed Luke's controller and started playing the video game for him with Zito while Luke waited for Dez to answer.

"Who you calling?" Zito asked.

"Dez." Luke muttered.

"Ten bucks says her parents are going to make her do a bunch of chores and then decide that they don't want her coming for some stupid reason." Steven muttered making Zito scoff.

It was true that Dez's parents seemed to have a strange tendency to pull things like that. While Luke thought it was just pure evil, Steven himself tried hard not to take sides on the matter because when they confronted Dez about this issue they found that she was opposed to the thought of her parents being evil. Steven had never really gotten to know Dez's parents personally nor did he really want to…

"This game is boring." Zando complained. Obviously the Shinigami did not enjoy staying still for to long and watching a bunch of teenagers do nothing but sit around playing games and talking.

Steven smirked. _Don't worry, Zando,_ he thought, _I promise that you won't be bored when the night games start…_

75


	6. Mafia

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Six

Mafia

Soon many had arrived for the Night Games. Jesse had four of his friends over, including one fat guy that Steven and Luke really did not like. And then there was Justin, who had come home with Jesse and was already causing havoc by being loud and getting in the way of everyone in the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, but he helped plan this." Jesse told them when Steven asked again why Justin just had to come.

When Jesse was out of earshot, Steven grimaced and muttered "Like Justin actually helped. None of his ideas are worth noting."

Zando noticed too that Justin was quite a little bugger. When the Death God had reached out to take the last banana from the basket, Justin had grabbed it first and was trying to play fetch with Jake, Luke's dog, with it. From that moment on, Zando hated him.

"Are you gonna kill him?" Zando asked curiously to Steven when he'd finally gotten away from the group of people in the living room and kitchen. They were standing outside. Steven had gone out to get some fresh air. He'd done it without letting anyone know because he didn't want people to think it was weird that he was going out by himself just to be alone. And if they did spot him then he'd just have to put up with their questions anyway.

Steven smirked slightly in the shadows, watching the night sky grow dimmer over the horizon. "Tonight, probably." he answered Zando in an undertone.

"Oh, really?" Zando asked. "During these night games?"

"Yeah." Steven said. "Justin, I know it's not his fault for having parents that made him mentally retarded and all but even so, he's an annoyance to society and in my vision of the future he's definitely not in it."

"If you kill him by heart attack, though…" Zando muttered. "And the Death Note is at your house."

"I've already thought of both those things, Zando." Steven reassured him. "I brought a slip of paper from the Death Note with me today. It's in my pocket right now. And I know it would be weird if a kid like him just randomly had a heart attack and died. It would look bad if two deaths happened in front of me on the same day."

"I'm not worried." Zando smirked. "I'm just eager to see it happen."

"I'll make up for you recent boredom." Steven told him. "Trust me."

"Oh, I'm not bored." said Zando. "On the contrary, I'm finding this whole situation quite interesting. I've only been with you a day and already you've been taking care of people with much more care than most of the other idiots who've picked up a death note before."

"You're going to make me blush." Steven muttered, eyeing the back door where he could see through the glass pane at all his friends. "I hate that."

"Hehehe, right." Zando scoffed.

Soon dark figures were running outside with pizza and drinks in their hands. Everyone had arrived and was ready to have fun. Eating and hanging out time was over with. People were rived up for the actual night games. Everyone except for Luke, it seemed. He was sitting in the family room looking annoyed about something. Steven felt slightly obligated as a friend and curious as a person to sit down in a seat nearby and ask. "Where's Dez?"

"She's late, of course." Luke muttered and Steven sensed that Luke was about to go off about something. And he was right.

"Her fucking parents are probably holding her up and making her do chores." Luke began and Steven sat back in the chair. "They make her clean her sister's and her brother's rooms along with a bunch of other bullshit and they know that they're doing it. They're just doing it to be evil and it's fucked up."

Steven nodded in agreement. "Yeah, have you tried to talk to her about that?"

"Yeah, but she doesn't really listen. She just says "Yeah" and "Okay" and "Sorry" but I'm starting to wonder if she really takes in anything I say at all or if she just wants to avoid arguing." Luke sighed.

"Should I talk with her, then?" Steven asked. He was kind of Dez's psychiatrist on the side. He'd talked to her when her and Luke had broken up the first time and at first he didn't think he'd made much of an impact but ever since she'd somehow managed to confide in him. And this worked out well for Luke because then he could tell Luke what they talked about. In the end it got her to trust him and it made Steven feel as if he'd helped somehow in someway though he knew it was their problem and would respect his help as nothing more than a favor for them.

"Yeah, I'm going to get her to talk to you." Luke said. "Whenever the hell she gets here."

"C'mon guys!" Bryce shouted from outside.

"Let's go." Steven said, standing up. Luke paused for a second and Steven wondered if Luke had it in him to play the night games. But he stood a second later and they wandered out into the cold night air in silence.

"What should we play first?" Jesse asked as the group around him quieted down.

"Mafia!" Shouted someone and soon everyone was chanting "Mafia! Mafia!"

"So everyone wants to play Mafia?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah!!" Everyone shouted, already running into the grass and starting to set up their seats. Steven took a seat on a blanket next to Luke and Zito. Mafia was an interesting game where everyone got a separate card and there was a narrator. Cameron already had volunteered and was handing out the cards that Steven had drawn to everyone. Steven took the card that was given to him and was surprised to find that he was the mafia. _Interesting…_He thought, not letting his surprise show on his face as he slipped the card underneath his leg.

"I don't understand. What's going on?" Zando asked dumbly.

"Just wait…" Steven muttered under his breath as everyone settled down and Cameron started to explain the rules.

Basically, there was about twenty or so people and each person has a card. Most of the cards were only considered Citizen Cards and if someone had a card like that then they were normal. But then there was also a mafia card, and angel card, and a detective card. The trick was that nobody was allowed to know who each other was except for the narrator. Each turn, Cameron would request that they all slept and then would ask the angel to rise and point at the person who they would want to save, including themselves if they wished. Then came the detective, who would point at the person that he thought was the mafia. And then finally the mafia, who would point at the person who he wanted to kill. Then they would all wake and Cameron would tell them a story based on who chose what. If the mafia chose to kill someone who the angel was saving, then that person wouldn't die. And if the detective got the mafia person right, then he would be able to exploit it to everyone else but if he got it wrong then the mafia would surely kill him next. And Steven was the mafia. How ironic…

By the end of the game, there were only five people left. The Angel had died, the detective had died, but Steven remained the mafia and was smirking for he'd won. And when the game ended there were calls for another game but Steven did not like this idea. From past night game experiences they would probably have to end by 11 or 12 o clock that night and it was already 9:30. And the best part about night games was running around in the dark, not sitting on their buts playing a card game.

"I say we start playing Last man standing." Steven said, standing up and stretching.

"Alright." Luke agreed.

"No! Mafia!" Justin cried, pounding his fists into his knees, trying to be more dramatic than what was necessary.

"That kid is bothering me." Zando muttered. "Will you hurry up and kill him?"

Steven rolled his eyes and looked at everyone else. They all ended up agreeing to start playing Last Man Standing and Justin's cries of Mafia were soon drowned out.

"Let's do it!" Jesse announced. "Who wants to be it?"

"I think you should, Jesse." Bryce said.

"Yeah!" Came a couple shouts of agreement.

"I'll be it!" Justin perked up.

Steven smirked. Justin being it didn't matter. But it did put a damper on his plans. "No, I'll help be it." He said, stepping forward. "If you don't mind?" He added, looking at Jesse.

"Alright, me and Steve are it." Jesse said.

_Easier than I thought. Nobody was even listening to Justin…_ Steven thought as he and Jesse went inside and everyone else ran to hide. _Then again, who would listen to him?_

After just a minute of waiting, Steven, Jesse, and Zando all stepped back outside. Jesse immediately ran to the left and began searching.

"What happens now?" Zando asked.

Steven frowned as he went and searched in the right side of the backyard instead. "If he finds him…" he muttered to Zando. "Then Justin will be it. That doesn't matter. The reason I decided to be it was so that I would know when Justin was it."

"Why does it matter if Justin is it?" Zando asked.

"Because once he is it, I can trick him into searching in a certain direction and kill him with the slip of death note paper I have in my pocket." Steven said. "But I have to make it look like an accident, of course. And I want to see it happen with my own eyes but be far away enough so that nobody will think that I saw it actually happen."

"Why couldn't you just let him be it, then?" Zando asked.

"Because three people being it would be too much for the beginning and Jesse had already volunteered which means it was either me or Justin. Besides, this way works out much better. Now I can find Justin on my own and start my plan without anyone else interfering. If I wasn't "it" then I would have to hide and the chances of my plan happening go down the drain…I chose the easiest way, basically."

"How are you going to find him?" Zando asked curiously.

"That's the easy part." Steven smiled wickedly.

And then came a cry from somewhere distant. Jesse had found someone. From the sound of it, it was Cameron or Bryce. It would be much easier if Steven found Justin first. So it was a race after-all to get the advantage.

And so Steven made his way into the depths of darkness inside the forest. He ducked in order to avoid branches hanging overhead. The shadows pressed against his eyes and he saw constant shapes moving all around him but when he looked to see what it was, nothing was there. Every sound, a cracking twig, the rustling tree leaves from the wind, caught his attention. Zando remained behind him in silence, watching apprehensively.

Steven could see people running. Jesse was chasing someone. It wasn't Justin, though. Steven knew that if Justin had been caught he would be yelling for his life. Steven ignored them and continued his search. The more people Jesse caught then the more people there would be to search and the chance of Steven catching Justin himself became more unlikely.

And then Steven saw something and he forced himself not to scoff. Justin was sitting crouching behind a tree with his back to him. Steven could see his ass-crack shining in the moonlight. The sight was funny and pathetic at the same time and Steven almost felt ashamed to have won so easily. Justin's stupid hiding place would be the end of his life.

Justin screamed when Steven grabbed both his shoulders and let out the "Wemo Cry" as his friends dubbed which was basically a high pitched shriek.

"Steve!" Justin said in relief. "You scared me."

"Yeah, and you're it now so stop sitting there like a dumbass." Steven told him, turning to walk away. "You wanted to be it, right?"

"No." Justin said dumbly.

"Well then make yourself useful." Steven said. "See that big tree over there?" He pointed to the tree where the swing was. "I saw someone hiding up there. You should go check and see for yourself." Steven knew he wasn't putting up a whole lot of common sense in what he was saying, but it wasn't like he needed to with Justin.

"Why me?" Justin asked with a frown.

"Because you're way buffer than me, dude." Steven smirked, laughing evilly inside his own head. "But then, if you don't want to…you probably couldn't do it anyway…"

"Yeah I can! Watch!" Justin said, running toward the tree.

Steven watched him go and some of the satisfaction that his plan was working showed briefly in the smile that stretched across his face at that moment. Nobody nearby would be able to see because it was so dark outside and if anyone had heard their conversation then they would think that Steven was just messing with Justin. He wouldn't be blamed for anything to happen once Justin actually got up the tree…

Steven ran up the hill toward the barn and stopped. Bryce and Luke had both been caught it seemed and were searching for hiding people nearby. He waited until they were both out of sight until he hid around the corner and removed and pen and slip of paper from his pocket.

"You doing it, now?" Zando asked with excitement.

"Yup." Steven whispered, writing down a brief few words before closing the paper in his fist and slipping it and the pen back inside his pocket.

No going back now. This was it. The end of the annoying little prick that was Justin Tatcher. It was a shame that he had to be born under such circumstances but that didn't change the fact that he was a shame to the human race and definitely not someone Steven wanted in his dreams for the future. People like Justin did not belong in his ideal world…Along with many others.

Steven went and rounded the corner, pretending to be going on the prowl once again only he was counting the seconds inside his head to when Justin's death would arrive. And when he walked down the grassy slope he heard it. A cry from the big swing tree. It was a familiar cry of surprise and fright followed by a crack of something big. Steven saw what appeared to be Jesse and Bryce standing ten or so feet in front of him stop in their tracks and look at the tree. He followed their gaze and watched in time to see a figure fall from the tree and land with a thud just out of sight.

"Who was that?" Jesse asked in a hushed voice.

"Justin?" Bryce questioned.

The three of them walked into the darkness and peered down at the body that lied there before them. Justin, with a couple of branches lying on top of them, was as dead as Sean Church had been earlier that day.

"Whoa…" Steven and Bryce both exclaimed.

"What happened?" Jesse asked worriedly, bending over near Justin's body. "How did he…?"

"Is he dead?" Steven asked with a gulp.

He already knew the truth. Steven had written that Justin would slip climbing up the tree and would hit ever branch on his way down, on the little slip of Death Note paper. And once he hit the ground, he would have a heart attack and die immediately.

But before Jesse or Bryce could answer his question, two more people came through the bushes looking confused. "What happened?" asked one of the newcomers who Steven recognized as the voice of Cameron.

"Justin, he fell out of the tree…" Bryce said, looking stunned.

"Oh my…" gasped the voice of a girl. Before Steven could figure out who the girl was Jesse stood back up wiping his forehead and looking around at them all.

"He's not moving…" Jesse murmured fervently.

"Go get your dad." Steven said. "Get an ambulance over here. Something…"

"Right." Jesse said, already heading out. "Bryce, Cameron, you guys get Justin. Let's…carry him back to the house."

There were no voices of disapproval. The twins picked up Justin's corpse and carried him out of the forest and down Luke's backyard. Steven followed and saw that the girl who had joined them was none other than Dez, Luke's girlfriend.

"When did you get here?" Steven asked.

"A couple of minutes ago." Dez said. "Where's Luke?"

"I don't know…um…" Steven looked around, pretending to look nervous and shocked at what had just happened. "You should go tell everyone what happened."

"Okay." Dez said obediently and traipsed off back into the forest alone calling out people's names while Steven headed back up to the house. In the darkness no one could see but there was an evil smirk on his face.

"Nice kill." Zando complimented him as they headed toward the back door where they could see light shining and the figure of Luke's dad on the phone standing over Justin's body which was lied about on top of the kitchen table.

"Thanks." Steven said. "I told you I'd make it interesting for you."

"Kind of a brutal way to kill someone, though. To get beaten up by a tree and just die of a heart attack afterward?" Zando went on.

"Doesn't matter. He's dead now." Steven said. "Worse things happen to better people… And I'm going to put an end to that."

86


	7. Other

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Seven

Other

"What a good day it is to be alive, when everyone around you starts to die."

"Why'd you write that?"

"I was bored."

"But inside the Death Note's cover?"

"Why not?"

"Is it some sort of statement?"

Steven was in his bedroom with the Death Note lying open on his lap with a white stencil in his hand. Zando was standing over him looking down at the cover where Steven had just written a short phrase inside of it underneath the list of rules.

"It's a line from a song I wrote once." Steven told him.

"I see…" Zando scratched his chin. "So?"

"So stop asking me questions whenever I do something." Steven snapped.

"Ah, sorry." Zando apologized. "Didn't mean to attack your personal space."

Steven paused with a frown on his face. "It's fine…" he muttered.

It had been a couple weeks since the death of Justin Tatcher at Luke's night games. Unfortunately the death had caused a minor consequence for them. Luke's dad announced that there would be no more night games at their house anymore which kind of sucked because Steven had always enjoyed them. And it gave people another reason for hating Justin, even though he was now dead.

Steven remembered seeing Doug, Justin's brother, standing over his dead brother's body. Doug didn't cry but he didn't say anything either. It was the quietest Steven had ever seen him. But he did not feel any guilt for what he'd done. The constant voice in his head told him that it was for the greater good and any guilt now would only cloud his thoughts.

With a sigh, Steven took out the list of criminals that he had recorded on his notebook papers from School. In the past couple weeks Steven had recorded up to ten pages full of names just on criminals throughout America. Nobody would notice a few deaths at Hazen yet. Not with the media focusing on all of the abrupt amount of heart attacks taking place throughout the nation. He would write a few names every morning and every afternoon and he would give them all random times of deaths so that they all didn't die within a certain time limit. He'd decided that if all the deaths occurred in the afternoon then someone would be able to narrow it down to a student. And he did not want that to happen.

But the media had indeed noticed that something strange was happening and that _was_ something Steven wanted. He would watch the news sometimes when nobody was around and see that people were reporting a high number of heart attacks and already there was a scale up online with the number of heart attack deaths in each state specifically.

And the thing that people noticed mostly about all this was that everyone who died was a reported criminal sentenced to either a life time in prison or the death penalty. Steven would smile whenever he saw this. His plan was going accordingly. It was odd. The feeling of accomplishment. Steven usually didn't feel something like this because he didn't put enough effort in anything to feel accomplished. It was kind of refreshing to have everything happen the way he wanted it to.

"Hey, Zando…" Steven asked, looking up from his bedside as he finished writing in the new names of criminals for that day. "Are there any consequences for using the Death Note?"

"Not for Shinigami." Zando muttered matter-of-factly.

"No shit." Steven frowned. "What about humans?"

"Hmm…well…" Zando paused. "Since you've already used the death note, there's no turning back from this so…Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes." Steven said firmly.

"Alright…" Zando sighed. "A person who uses the death note will probably suffer from insanity when they get older and go through stressful mental trauma during the beginning stages of the death note because of the power it brings. This is interesting because it's been, what, three weeks and I've hardly seen any mental stress out of you yet."

"It hasn't been too difficult concealing the Death Note so far, that's probably why." Steven admitted. "And I don't care what happens when I'm an old man. Is there anything else?"

"Why're you so curious all of the sudden?" Zando asked. "You never asked me any of this before."

Steven closed his eyes and leaned backward onto his pillows. "Well, it's only natural to want to know what's going to happen if I do something. Knowing that I'm going to be insane when I'm older is a nice thought though…"

"Well, there's one other thing…" Zando said.

"What is it?"

Zando looked up and grin. "No human who ever uses the death note, no matter the circumstance, will go to either Heaven or Hell when you die."

Steven blinked. "Then what happens?"

"You got to a place called "Nothingness". You become nothing for the rest of eternity." Zando said wickedly. "Scary thought, yes?"

"Nothing…" Steven muttered. "Completely alone…" He imagined a vast white plain where he would be left floating lifelessly for the rest of eternity… It almost made Hell look like a resort."

"Words such as alone don't even register in Nothing." Zando said. "Nothing means just that, Nothing."

"So I'm already screwed then?" Steven asked with a frown.

"Well, you'll find out when you die." Zando smirked. "Sorry."

Steven sat there for a while in silence. Zando tilted his head with a banana sticking out of his mouth curiously. "Don't tell me you're regretting your decision?"

"No…On the contrary…" Steven smiled. "I don't care. I was already prepared to go to Hell a long time ago…And if I end up being nothing then that means when I'm there I won't have a care in the world therefore nothing won't be bad or good…"

Zando smirked. "Look who's optimistic today."

"Hey, Zando…" Steven said. "I want to ask you something…"

Zando swallowed the banana whole and licked his lips. "What is it?"

Steven looked up at the Shinigami with a gleam in his eye. "Is there a way for a human to become a Death God when or before they die?"

The bell rang loudly signaling the end of Third period. Steven emerged from his woodshop class carrying a DVD case holder under his arm that he'd finally finished that day and had it graded as an A. At least he wouldn't have to work in that class for a few days and could draw and socialize with Jacob and their new friend, Noah, who was also kind of an artist himself and was interested in a lot of the same things as they were so they got along great.

As Steven made his way to the lunch room, someone stepped out and bumped right into him. It was a girl and she had been running too quickly. She ended up knocking his case holder to the ground where one of the wooden poles snapped in half.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" the girl apologized with a gaping look.

"It's fine." Steven grumbled, bending over to grab the broken project. He'd worked somewhat hard on it and was a little disappointed to see it break five minutes out of the classroom. He looked up to see who the culprit was and felt a jolt go through him that he hadn't felt in a long time.

It was a girl he recognized from his second period with Ms. Shaunesty. And for that brief few seconds he looked into her eyes, he could feel a strange thumping in his chest. It was indescribable…

"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to." She apologized again.

"It's fine." Steven smiled lamely, scratching the back of his head. "It wasn't much anyway…"

"I'll make it up to you, I promise, Steven." She said, walking away. "I'm kind of in a rush, see you around."

"Yeah, see you…" Steven said, watching her go with a kind of dazed feeling.

"Who was that?" Zando asked curiously over his shoulder.

"I think her name was Jennie…" He muttered with a frown as students trifled past him looking annoyed that he was standing there in the middle of the hallway. He quickly joined in with the rest of the line of kids and walked into the lunch room.

"She was cute." Zando grinned. "I think I recognize her."

"I have her in my second period."

"And she knew your name." Zando went on.

Steven rolled his eyes. "You don't get humans very well, do you?"

"I dunno, in the Shinigami realm I hardly know anyone's name. And you don't even know her but she knows your name." Zando teased.

Steven didn't answer back. He himself didn't consider it such a big deal. But for some reason the image of her face stayed with him as he waited in line and got his hamburger and chocolate milk. What was that feeling he got when their eyes met? Wondering about it made it come back and he felt something inside him want to see her again soon. But it was past second period and the weekend was coming up so he would have to wait and by then she probably would forget that she had even collided with him.

Steven walked outside with his food in hand and the Shinigami flying overhead. Steven saw him perch himself up on the tree that they all sat under. Katlynn, Jacob, and Zito were all already there eating and talking.

"Steve-O!" Zito greeted.

"Sup." Steven grinned.

"What happened to your project?" Jacob asked.

"Oh, had a little run in with some girl." Steven shrugged, setting it down on the platform by the tree. "I can take it back to Mr. Mejelli later and have it fixed."

"That's true." Jacob muttered. "He'll be like "Deuce, Deuce Rides!" and fuck your project all up back together again."

They all laughed because it was one of their teacher's famous phrases that he used in every class whenever someone called out "Who rides?!"

For the rest of the lunch hour, Steven talked, joked, and laughed with the rest of them. Only Katlynn seemed to be a little different. Steven was the only one who noticed but decided not to ask until Jacob and Zito weren't paying attention. He knew Katlynn better than the other two and knew that she wasn't the type to spill her thoughts out to everyone at once.

So when the bell rang signaling them to head for fourth period, Steven and Katlynn split off from Zito and Jacob.

"Are you alright, Katlynn?" Steven asked immediately.

"Huh?" Katlynn looked up in surprise. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Liar." Steven smirked. "You were acting different today. You didn't even laugh at Jacob's penis jokes."

Katlynn smiled at this but Steven could see there was something on her mind.

"Well, if you want to talk later…I got to go. Steven said. "See you."

They split off and Steven walked in a different direction but he couldn't help but wonder what was on her mind.

"That girl wasn't as cute as the other one." Zando muttered bluntly as they made their way into Steven's science class. "Why don't you talk to that Jennie girl instead?"

Steven frowned and sat down. Now wasn't a safe time to talk because half the class was full of people already. Zando didn't understand that Katlynn was considered a friend while Jennie was just a passing person in the halls who he hardly knew. To Zando they were both on equal standards. Steven would have to explain social situations to Zando later when they got home.

Steven sat down and waited as Mr. McCarron began today's lesson. They were starting their astronomy unit. Something Steven wasn't too interested in. The movements of the planets weren't exactly something that he was excited about. And when they got their packets he stood from his seat and wandered over to one of the lab tables with some of the people he talked to in that class.

There was Heather and Axel Larson. Axel had once dated Baker but only for a short while. Steven really didn't mind him, though he was kind of a pussy and repeated the same jokes over and over again and it got old. And Heather was just a girl that begged for drama in her life. And it would be a rare day when Steven wouldn't hear her call someone a skank or a hoe. There was also this little black girl named "Veneesia" or something like that. He just called her Venus. But she was a little bit of a stalker and Steven had the distinct feeling that she liked him.

As soon as Steven sat down, Heather and Venus turned to each other and immediately started their gossiping session that would last about ten minutes. Zando sat on top of the counter looking across the class room at a blonde girl who was showing off a bit too much cleavage that day. Steven smirked when he saw what the Death God was gawking at, remembering that a couple days ago he'd walked into his bedroom and saw Zando reading through his dad's playboys.

"What can I say? The human girls are way cuter than the Shinigami ones." Zando would grin stupidly when Steven told him to put them back before his father found out.

"Hey, Heather, have you even started the packet?" Axel asked.

"No, why?" She asked dumbly.

"Because us smart boys over here are doing all the work." Steven muttered sarcastically.

"Yeah, while the bitches' gossip." Axel laughed.

"Man, shuddup, foo!" Venus snapped.

Zando looked down. "Huh, a fight?"

Steven shook his head. Another thing Zando didn't understand was that this day and age people insulted each other as friends as well as enemies so the banter between Axel, Heather, and Venus was nothing special.

Heather opened her mouth to say something to her brother when she abruptly grabbed at her chest and stood up gasping.

"Heather, you alright?" Venus asked with a raised eyebrow.

Steven blinked and looked up.

Heather continued to gasp like a fish out of water until she collapsed to the floor, knocking stools over by the lab tables. Everyone backed away in surprise and was talking in hushed whispers. Axel ran around the table and bent over next to his sister. "Heather? Heather!?"

"What the fuck?" Steven muttered under his breath. Zando's attention drew away to the girl on the floor instead.

"You killed another one, huh?" The Shinigami asked Steven matter-of-factly.

But Steven was shaking his head. This wasn't him. His Death note was at home. Sure, Heather's name was on the list of people he was planning on killing one day but he'd never actually written her name inside the Death Note. But then how…?

Mr. McCarron crouched next to Heather's body and put his fingers on her neck. "What happened?" He asked quickly.

"She just collapsed." Axel muttered, tears running down his face.

"Is she alright?"

"It looked like she couldn't breath…"

"She just fell!"

People were talking all around the classroom. To them it was just like the time the three Mexican students had died. But to Steven, this was something else entirely.

"She's dead…" Mr. McCarron muttered quietly. "Someone…someone get the principal and the nurse here, right now!"

"I'll go." Venus muttered.

"She's not dead…she can't be…" Axel moaned, running his hands through his hair, looking horror-struck.

What the hell was going on? Steven hadn't written her name in the Death Note. Could the notebook be going hay wire or something? No… Even Zando would've told him something like that. What were the chances of someone dying of a heart attack just like that? Sure, Heather probably did drugs but at that age someone shouldn't be capable of dying of a heart attack. She would be in a lot worse state beforehand if that were the case. But she looked at least healthy enough not to have just died from a heart attack. But now she was extremely pale and lifeless on the floor in Mr. McCarron's arms…

This wasn't the work of Steven or his Death Note…This was someone else. Steven thought about it for the rest of the day as he finished up all of his classes. At the end of sixth period, the death of Heather Larson was announced to the rest of the school over the intercom.

On the bus, Steven decided he would go and hang out with Zito but the entire way home he thought long and hard about what he'd seen.

"Did you hear what happened?" Zito asked with a shocked expression.

"Yeah, Heather's death?" Steven nodded. "I was there when it happened."

"Are you serious?" Zito asked.

"Yeah…"

"Wow, first Sean, now Heather…" Zito muttered. "And you saw both of them?"

"Yeah, except Sean killed himself." Steven said. "Heather just kind of collapsed…"

"Wow…"

Steven frowned as they both grew silent and the bus started up. There was no other conclusion. Someone else in Hazen High School had a Death Note.

But it would have had to be someone with a grudge for Heather. She was always going on about gossip. Steven never listened. He didn't know half the sluts that she talked about with Venus. Any of them could have done it… Anyone in the school, even a teacher, was a suspect…

And suddenly Steven felt angry. Someone else was out there doing what only he should be capable of. They could ruin his plans. Whoever this person was, they could be using the Death Note carelessly. If only Steven knew who it was. He could kill them himself and steal their Death Note so that he could have a second copy just in case. But how was he going to figure this out? Someone with a grudge against Heather… As far as Steven knew, this person hadn't killed anyone else because it would've been announced on the school intercom and if a criminal had been killed by heart attack over the media then Steven would've caught that it was someone he hadn't written the name of in yet. And so far neither had happened which means that Heather was the first person to have died by this other death note. This also means that it had to be someone with a grudge for her because it was the same as how he'd killed Sean Church as a test subject and Ashlee Peters as well. This person had tested the Death Note today, and that meant that they were probably just now realizing the power they had in their hands…

98


	8. Hunter

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Eight

Hunter

"What a day, eh?" Zando said as Steven came home from Zito's house and locked the front door behind him,

His parents were in the kitchen talking so Steven refrained from commenting. Instead he walked past them into his room where he closed the door and sat down on his bed to take his socks off.

"I don't blame you for killing that one girl, though. She was ugly and annoying." Zando went on, scratching his chin and grinning up at the ceiling.

"I didn't kill her." Steven muttered.

"Huh?" Zando looked down in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I didn't do it. How could I? I didn't bring any pieces of the Death Note with me…" Steven said, glaring up at the wall in front of his bed with a dark expression. He had a few questions for Zando that he had been waiting to ask for the last half of the day. And now it had finally come. "Zando, is it possible that another Shinigami could've dropped a Death Note nearby? Or that you dropped two instead of just the one?"

Zando raised an eyebrow. "I suppose, it's possible but I didn't bring a second one with me."

"Then it must be another Shinigami who's given someone their Death Note." Steven concluded. "And it's someone at our school who had a grudge or something against Heather."

Steven looked up at the Death God to see what he thought and saw for the first time that Zando had a look of worry on his face. "What's wrong?" Steven asked curiously.

"Nothing…" Zando muttered.

"Don't lie." Steven smirked. "You can tell me."

Zando frowned and looked down at his feet. "Well, you see…"

There was a sudden knock at the door and both looked up to see Steven's mother standing under the silhouette looking annoyed about something. "Steven, can you come out here for a minute?"

"Why?" Steven asked, a little ruder than he intended to sound.

His mom glowered at him and with a sigh, Steven stood and left his room but his thoughts remained on what Zando was about to tell him. Why did the Shinigami look worried at the sound of the possibility of another Death Note user?

"What is the meaning of this?" His mom burst out, slamming a report card down on the table. Steven blinked and looked down at it.

There on his school report was an "F (52.1 )" under his Government class. Great. The first F of the year always meant a great, big, fat scolding from his mom followed by a sarcastic comment from his dad.

"I'm sorry." Steven apologized immediately. "But this class is much more difficult than it should be." And it was true; Ms. Shaunesty had become even more bitchier than normal since the death of Sean Church in her classroom. Perhaps it had been a mistake to kill him in front of her like that.

"Look at all the failed assignments!" His mom shouted, going down the list with her finger.

"No missing assignments though." Steven muttered.

"That's a first." His dad scoffed.

"At least I'm doing all my work." Steven shot his dad a glare.

"Not well enough, obviously!" His mom shrieked hysterically.

Steven hated it when his parents were like this. It didn't happen often. But it was true; he had been slacking slightly because most of his thoughts were on the Death Note. He decided that he would have to balance school work with the rest and make homework more of a priority. He did all the work but he didn't study so his grades were low.

"You're grounded this weekend until your grades improve." His mom sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"That doesn't make any sense…" Steven muttered. "How can I be grounded for the weekend but improve my grade at the same time?"

"Look! Study and I may decide not to extend your groundation to next weekend!" His mom shouted and Steven glared at her for the injustice of it all. He turned and went back into his bedroom, closing his door and looking around the room. For he'd just noticed that Zando was no longer there.

"Zando?" He whispered, looking under his bed and spinning on the spot in confusion. Great, the Shinigami had abandoned him. Probably to avoid any further asking of what he looked so worried about earlier. Steven sat down on his bed and lied back, resting his hands underneath his head and looking up at the poster of all the skulls on his ceiling.

This was just what he needed. To be stuck alone for two days wondering about who this other Death Note user could be or if maybe he was just paranoid and Heather really did just die of natural causes…but the chances of that were much less than another Death Note user… And what was Zando afraid of?

Steven took the Death Note, formulating a plan to please his parents and do his duty as the notebook's owner at the same time.

He stepped out from his room and walked into the family room where his mom sat watching television.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Studying, like you said." He told her, setting down his Government book and taking a normal notebook out to write his notes in.

"Hmph…" His mom grunted as he leaned the government book in his lap and set the normal notebook bellow it. He sat back in the sofa and opened the government book to reveal the Death Note inside, hidden from his mom's view. His mom would see him taking notes but he would secretly be writing in more names from the normal notebook he had bellow him which had criminals written inside of it.

He wrote in seven or so names that were scheduled to die within the next couple of days at random times, all by heart attacks, before closing all his books and standing up. "There…" was all he said before walking away back into his room and setting all the books down on his shelf next to the clock which said "9:45"

Steven had a major headache and decided that he would go to bed early that night and try to wipe his mind of all the frustrations that happened in the past 24 hours. He guessed that Zando was right in saying the Death Note would test the users mental stability. And it was finally doing its job.

Shutting off the lights, he put a CD in the CD player next to his bed and the band, Korn, started playing. Steven rolled over underneath his sheets and closed his eyes to try and block out the thumping in his temple but it wasn't working to well. What could he possibly think about to make his frustrations and worries go away?

And then suddenly he saw the eyes of a girl staring at him as the memory of his run-in with Jennie flashed before his own eyes. Suddenly the throbbing in his head lessened and Steven smiled into his pillow.

The weekend went by slower than normal. Because he was excluded from his friends, Steven stayed home watching T.V., playing video games, and going to the computer. Zando never showed up on Saturday and on Sunday Steven was actually starting to worry a bit. What if the Shinigami had been so afraid of something that he'd decided to leave Steven for good and not come back just in case. But what did it have to be afraid of? Zando had already said that the Death Note doesn't affect any Death Gods…

And who could the other Death Note user possibly be? By now, he or she had probably figured out that there had been a bunch of previous heart attacks in the school which means whoever killed Heather must know that there is the existence of another Death Note user. So both of them knew of each other's existence with the Death Note but don't know who each other is… So even at school, Steven would have to be careful how he acted. It could even be one of his friends…

Steven sighed as the Sunday afternoon drew to a close and he sprawled across his bed, looking up at the ceiling with a frown on his face. Everyone he knew at school was a suspect. Whoever had the other Death Note must be thinking the same thing about Steven. It was a cat and mouse game now. Who would find each other out first?

_I must…_ He thought with a determined glare.

"Hey!"

Steven shot up from surprise to the abrupt voice in his room. Zando was sitting on his windowsill with the same smile he always had on his face. It was hard to read a Shinigami's emotions.

"Where have you been?" Steven asked coldly.

"Didn't worry about me, did you?" Zando asked with a smirk.

"I thought a Death God can't leave the person holding the Death Note alone until that person dies." Steven frowned.

"True." Zando sighed. "But I wasn't much for following the rules…"

"What do you mean?" Steven asked.

"You're curious?" Zando asked.

"Yeah, where did you go?" Steven stood from his bed and crossed his arms.

"I'm afraid if I told you that then I would be helping you and helping you out isn't something of my common interest." Zando said with a wild grin.

Steven frowned. "How would telling me where you went help me out? What's going on with you, Zando?"

"When the time is right I'll tell you the whole truth but I want to see you figure it all out for yourself first." Zando told him.

Steven paused for a moment before saying "Does this have anything to do with the other Death Note user?"

Zando blinked. "Yes."

"When I mentioned it earlier you looked frightened…" Steven stated.

"Also true." Zando nodded.

"Are you afraid…of other Shinigami?" Steven concluded with a raised eyebrow.

"Bravo!" Zando clapped his hands together. "Faster than I thought."

"I had time to think." Steven said. "If there's another Death Note user than that person must have a Death God with them as well. But why are you afraid of them?"

"Since you figured the main part out, I might as well tell you the whole truth." Zando sighed. "But I thought I'd make you suffer a couple days wondering at first. I didn't expect you to get it on your first try."

"So start with why you left for two days." Steven said, leaning against his door and glaring at the Shinigami.

"Well, when I found out there was the possibility of a Death God down here, I wondered…why?" Zando began. "It is only every couple hundred years that a Shinigami comes down here. But I came to only one possible conclusion…It's hunting me."

"Hunting you?" Steven repeated. "Explain."

"You see…" Zando began. "There's a lot about Shinigami I haven't told you. Especially about me."

"Then start talking." Steven demanded, but in a calm voice so that he didn't seem to forceful.

"Well…" Zando scratched the side of his neck. "I'm a Criminal Death God. I caused a lot of havoc in the Shinigami realm because it was boring and I had my own ideas but nobody ever listened so I went down into the Human world and caused trouble there too. So I was put away into the Shinigami prison…It was a horrible place…" Zando gave a kind of shudder before continuing. "I managed to escape, just recently, and flew down into the Human world to hide. I guess I should have seen this coming, but…well, there's a Hunter Death God on my tail now and I've confirmed that last night when I went out and found him."

"Where is he?" Steven asked.

"I don't know where it lives right now but when I was searching it found me first and we fought for a little while. It took me a while but I managed to shake him off me." Zando explained.

"And you couldn't tell me this before?" Steven asked.

"Like I said, I'm not on your side. I'm on my own side." Zando said. "So I can't help you unless you figure it out for yourself."

"But you're helping me by telling me this right now." Steven smirked.

"It is true that this information is helpful to you but it is also helpful for me to let you know all of this." Zando said. "So in the end, I'm still only helping myself."

"Alright, go on." Steven waved his hand. "Tell me something though, how does a Shinigami fight another Shinigami? Aren't you guys immortal or something?"

"Well, I suppose I should tell you this also." Zando sighed. "Naturally, there are only two ways for a Shinigami to die, but if you totaled it all up, there are three ways. The first is for a Death God to die away of age. You see, the reason we're called Death Gods and have Death Notes is because when we write a human's name inside the Death Note, 1/3rd of their life span is added onto ours which is why we're considered immortal."

"And you're telling me this now?" Steven frowned.

"Sorry, slipped my mind earlier." Zando said. "Actually, that's not true. I didn't want to tell you all of this until I was completely sure that you could handle the responsibility of the Death Note."

"What's the second way for a Shinigami to die?" Steven asked.

"Love." Zando grinned. "If a Shinigami falls in love with a human and decides to extend their life by saving them from something then the Shinigami will scatter into dust and become nothing."

"Another interesting fact." Steven muttered, glaring down at his feet. "A Death God loving a human?"

"It's happened before. But rarely." Zando nodded.

"And what's the third way?" Steven asked.

"This is the way that I will probably end up dying one day." Zando sighed. "There are certain ranked Shinigami with the power to kill other Shinigami called "Hunters" and they are the only ones who can use this. Of course, if they use this power out of their restrictions then they will have it taken away from them by the Death King but that's never happened."

"And there's a Hunter Shinigami down here after you?" Steven asked.

"Yup." Zando nodded.

"And that same Death God is probably watching over the other Death Note user right now?" Steven went on.

"Maybe." Zando shrugged.

"I see…" Steven said. "Well then, I'm sorry but you're not allowed to come to school with me anymore."

"What?" Zando exclaimed, stepping back in surprise. "Why?"

"You don't know?" Steven asked. "It's obvious that since you fought with this Death God that it can recognize you when you're there. But I won't be able to see it. I can only see you. If you come to school with me then you'll be killed by the Hunter and the person who the Hunter is watching over will know that I am the one with the Death Note. In fact, I might already be in danger if this Shinigami was with the user on Friday. They could've seen me. But the chances of that are slim because I'd already be dead."

"So you're looking out for my life?" Zando asked.

"Technically I'm looking out for my life." Steven frowned. "You being there doesn't actually matter much. Since you're not on my side you wouldn't tell me where the Hunter is or who his Death Note prodigy is unless it directly helps you, right?"

"True… But now that you brought all this up…" Zando muttered. "I don't exactly want to go to school anymore."

"Exactly." Steven said. "Don't worry, though."

"Huh?" Zando looked down at him.

"I'll find out on my own who this other Death Note user is and I'll kill him…" Steven smirked.

"How do you plan on getting rid of the Hunter?" Zando asked.

"Well, since you can't kill him and we can't exactly wait for him to die naturally, there's only one other way." Steven sighed. "We'll make him fall in love with another Human."

In a dark room far away, there was a figure sitting on a bed staring a television screen with a controller in his hand. There were no lights on in the room, only the white glare coming off from the television as the person on the bed flipped through channel after channel at a slow pace.

"How'd it go?" the person asked softly, as if talking to himself.

"Bad." replied a figure standing in the shadows. It was a big, robbed creature and it wore a strange mask over its' face with eyes holes and a mouth guard. Its hair was long, white, and untidy. There were strange gauntlet blades attached to its' arms and its feet were just as hairy as its' head. "He managed to get away."

"Did you see who he was with?" The boy on the bed asked curiously.

"No. He was alone." The monster said with a growl.

"That's a shame. Some Hunter you are…" The boy sighed and shook his head. "School's going to be interesting tomorrow…"

"Yeah, it is." The Hunter replied. "How are you going to find your target?"

"Don't know." The boy said. "Guess we'll just have to wait and see what I come up with, huh?"

"If I see anyone with a Shinigami I'll inform you of it." The Hunter said.

"Good." The boy said. "And also, there's something I want you to do for me…"

109


	9. Seen

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Nine

Seen

It was as cold as ever that morning. Steven stood by the bus stop shivering slightly in the freezing wind. The end of October was coming after-all and Halloween was almost there. But Steven was wondering how cold it would be on Halloween night when everyone would be out trick or treating. Steven imagined a girl dressed up in a skirt complaining because it was too cold. People like that were obviously too dumb to realize that it had been cold for the past two weeks and one night wouldn't make a difference in that. Steven himself wasn't going to dress up as anything that year and will probably just end up strolling through the hood with all of his buddies.

Steven watched as more of the kids came up and waited for the bus to arrive. The only thing that was different that morning, in which only Steven would know, was that Zando was no longer sitting on the gate muttering words under his breath like he usually did every morning, complaining mostly about the cold. Steven always thought this was interesting because he'd imagined the Shinigami realm to be very cold itself.

As the bus arrived, Steven's train of thought returned to what would be happening at school that day. He planned on finding out who exactly the other Death Note user was but doing something like that wasn't as easy as it appeared. First off he would have to do it without letting on that he knew about the Death Note because if this other Death Note user was smart then he or she would probably want to get rid of Steven as well once they found out whom he was. This also meant that this person would be planning on finding out who he was as well by acting under the radar or doing something they normally wouldn't do. Steven had plotted out what he thought the other person would do before deciding to make his own move. In his head, it was like a game of chess. The first to trap the other's king got check mate. And this was just like a Chess game. Both had an equal amount of pieces at their disposal and the School was their Chess Board. And luckily, Steven was pretty average at Chess. He smirked as he entered onto the bus.

He'd decided that this other Death Note user probably knew he had a Shinigami as well, especially since both of their Shinigami had already met in combat over the weekend. So this other person, depending on how smart they were, would be planning on having their Hunter come to school with them and keep an eye out for Zando so that they would know who he was following and that would trace them to Steven himself. But because Zando was not going to be following him today, it meant that by the end of the day they would come to two conclusions based on just that fact. That either he'd decided to keep Zando away from school, or that he decided not to come to school at all in case of being found out. And if the latter happened, then they would think that the other Death Note user was a coward.

But Steven had his own tricks up his sleeves to finding out who this other Death Note user could be. After-all, a chess match involved planning ahead and using their pieces accordingly. He was confident that he would win this "game" and once he was rid of this "Other" then he could focus his primary attention on the Hunter, which he already had a small idea for stored in the back of his mind on how to make it fall in love with a human. But it all depended on what happened. This was beginning of the game. And Steven had already made the first move…

"That movie was awesome, dude!" Zito said.

"What movie?" Jacob asked.

"Resident Evil 3." Zito said and went off about how the movie was much better than the second. Steven ignored him. He'd never been much of a fan for the Resident Evil movies, and thought that if a sequel sucked then there shouldn't be a third one to come out in order to redeem the series. A desperate Hollywood attempt like that wasn't worth his time. Instead, Steven was keeping an eye out. While he smiled at every joke and acted normally that morning around his friends, he was taking note of every expression, movement, and thing they did. There was a small chance it could be one of his friends. But the question was why would any of them have something against Heather Larson?

Zito didn't seem like the type who could handle a Death Note to kill people like Heather. He'd probably only use it rarely to kill off people he didn't like, such as gay people or terrorists. As far as Steven knew though, he wouldn't have any reason to kill Heather.

And then there was Jacob. Jacob wouldn't have the time to use a Death Note and Steven couldn't imagine him killing someone that he hardly even knew like Heather. The only times they'd ever met was the previous year when Heather would occasionally join their table.

Jacob's sister, Kirsten… She was probably the highest chance of being the one at the table with the Death Note. Lately she seemed to be getting more and more depressed, but that was probably just because of the losers that she hung out with and the rough family life at home. But Steven could see her getting in some kind of drama with Heather maybe, somehow, but the chances of that happening were extremely low.

Baker with a Death Note was probably the funniest thing Steven had imagined all that morning. She didn't hate anybody and whenever she had a problem she would worry about hurting someone. So unless for the past year it had all been an act to fool them and she was secretly a sadistic genius then the chances of her being the other Death Note user was slim to none.

In the end, Steven doubted any of the people sitting around him were of any threat. They were all just his friends and it was close to pointless to investigate them. Steven had planned that for the rest of the day he would analyze each and every person in all his classes and write down the people he suspected of possibly having the Death Note inside one of his normal notebooks. He also had another plan that he'd already set in motion but he would have to wait until after school to see the affects of that plan…

First period was normal. Steven sat there for a little while scribbling pictures in the very same notebook where he'd written all the previous names to criminals that he'd already sentenced to death. It was already getting tiresome. Because the only times he could get faces from the internet on the criminals was in the early morning before school or in the afternoon and each day he had to memorize the criminal's faces in order to kill them off in his Death Note. There were a few times where he was unable to remember a face but Steven somewhat had a photogenic memory and could see a face in his mind when he read a name, especially when most of the criminals in jail looked like a thug anyway and there was always some distinguishing characteristic such as a scar or the style of hair, or if they even had hair. But still, it'd be nice if he had something to look at when he wrote their names in while he hid in his room each night. Maybe he should get a job and buy himself a laptop or something.

Steven realized that he'd let his mind wander too far when the bell rang abruptly signaling the end of First period. Steven quickly piled his notebooks and papers into his backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and filed into the student line to go next door into Second Period.

And when he reached out to touch the door handle, he felt it turn under some unknown force and it opened, nearly hitting him in the head. He stepped backward into someone else accidentally and found himself face to face with Jennie standing inside of Mrs. Shaunesty's class.

"Oh, sorry." Steven muttered and she laughed.

"Did I hit you?"

"No."

She smiled. "Hey, I was wondering something."

Steven blinked. Wondering something? A million things shot through his mind at once and all thoughts about the stress using the Death Note was wiped from his mind. What could she possibly be wondering about. And it came to him before she could open her mouth again.

"If it's about the wooden thing, it's okay." Steven smiled. "I can get it fixed."

"I still feel bad, I'm such a klutz." Jennie hit her own head with a smile on her face and Steven found himself unable to look away, feeling the strange sensation in his chest again. Zando had been right, she was cute. How come he'd never noticed her before?

"Anyway." She went on. "I'm having a picnic with a few people and you should come."

"Alright." Steven said, without thinking. "When is it?"

"Wednesday." She said. "But you have to bring your own food."

"Um, okay?" He didn't see this as a problem at all.

"What are you bringing?" She suddenly looked serious and Steven felt slightly taken aback.

"Hmm, what do you want me to bring?" He asked, feeling a little happy that he didn't have to come up with something creative on the spot. He was not in a mood to think too hard about something as pointless as food. His mind was still wrapped around the fact that Jennie had actually asked him to a picnic just for running into him.

"Well, you can bring Salmon." Jennie nodded.

"Salmon?" Steven repeated.

"Yes."

"Why Salmon?"

"Why not?"

Damn her. Steven frowned. "Alright, Salmon and—"

"Steak." Jennie interrupted.

Steven blinked and he suddenly understood. Jennie's serious face broke into a smile. "I'm just kidding, bring whatever you want."

The bell rang and they both stepped back inside the class. Jennie went over to her seat while Steven took a seat on the opposite side of the room, resting his elbows up on the desk and looking down at his lap with narrowed eyes. Her attempt to be creative by telling him he could only bring food that started with the first letter of someone's name was humorous. It seemed she was trying to see how fast he would catch onto something. Steven smirked and decided that, just to be funny, he really would end up bringing steak and salmon just for the hell of it.

But despite the fact that their first conversation seemed a bit one sided, Steven couldn't help but have a rising desire to talk to her again. And throughout the hour he continued to cast glances over at her when he felt it was safe to risk it. He hadn't expected her to be so up front so quickly. In fact, in light of the recent events involving the other Death Note user he'd nearly forgotten about Jennie's existence up until that morning. Was Jennie always like that, so upfront with people she hardly knew?

Immediately Steven started divulging different theories and reasons as to why Jennie could be like this. Perhaps she was just raised that way, to be friendly and invite everyone to picnics. Whatever it was, at least she didn't do it in a way that annoyed him but rather intrigued him.

Zando would laugh if he knew what Steven was thinking about. Girls. How typical of a High School student. But Steven was smooth enough to focus on girls and the Death Note at once. In a way, thinking of Jennie relieved some of the pressure he was feeling about the Death Note. Indeed with the appearance of another Death Note user along with the mounting frustration of memorizing so many criminal's faces every day, Steven couldn't help but feel a little bit moody with his current situation. But maybe he could use Jennie to relieve that stress, even just by thinking about her. Whatever kind of feeling he got when he looked at her enlightened him, and it stayed there throughout the entire period even when he wasn't looking directly at her but just writing his notes about the Second Amendment.

Something about her touched him.

Steven stood from his seat and turned to exit the portable building with his backpack around his shoulder. But as he made his way to the door, Jennie approached him with the same smile she had on her face as before. "Hey!" She called.

"Huh?" Steven looked up. "Oh, hi."

"I just remembered that I forgot to tell you where the picnic was going to be." Jennie smacked her forehead. "Stupid me."

Steven had been expecting this actually. He himself had thought about this already and prepared for the possibility that Jennie would approach him after class. At least this confirmed that she hadn't been messing with him the entire time and was using the picnic idea just for a conversation. Something like that was an uncomfortable thought and he hoped Jennie wouldn't do something like that to play with his emotions. Perhaps she'd noticed the look in Steven's eyes when they first met and suspected that he liked her or something and would be playing a trick on him only to break him apart in the end. There was even a possibility that she was doing it right now. This was one of the things that Steven had considered when she'd first been so upfront with him in the beginning of class. But until he knew the complete truth he'd have to play along.

"Oh, so there is a picnic after-all." He said suddenly, deciding to go according to plan. Jennie blinked, looking dumbfounded. "Sorry, I thought you were just screwing with me before when you made the jokes about steak and salmon." Steven smiled, pulling off a lame expression.

"Well you can bring them if you want." Jennie smirked. "But I'm completely serious. Anyway, the picnic will be at Maplewood Park on Wednesday after school. Think you can make it?"

Steven was surprised by this answer. "I live right down the road from there."

Jennie smiled. "Oh! Well then you can come?"

"Of course." Steven grinned. "Oh, and just in case, would you mind if a friend or two came?" Luke or Zito might try to make plans with him on Wednesday and if he told them he was going on a picnic with some people they might want to come as well. Depending on what exactly he told them, of course. If he made it sound like he wanted to go alone so that he could have some major flirting with Jennie then they'd probably let him go but if he made it sound casual with a bunch of people and possibly bring up the fact that a girl he liked would be there then they might be up for coming. Steven didn't really think about it too much but he'd mite as well find out early just in case.

"Are they going to bring food?" Jennie asked.

"Hm, maybe." Steven shrugged as they both made their way out of the class and down the path outside, leading to the main building. "You might know one of them, Luke."

"Luke?" Jennie thought for a moment. "I think so."

"He's a mormon kid." Steven said.

"Oh, then I know him." Jennie nodded.

Steven found this information a bit curious. "You Mormon?"

"Yeah."

Great. Steven honestly didn't care too much but the fact that she was a Mormon did put a slight damper on him. For some reason he'd found himself attracted to Mormon chicks and now Jennie as well? In his eyes, there were two kinds of Mormons, the hardcore ones and the high on life ones. The hardcore Mormons were the ones that Steven tried to avoid when it came to flirting with because of their love for their religion, kind of like Luke's family. And then there were the High on life Mormons like Luke or Baker which were cool to flirt with and didn't follow by their religion in such a "hardcore" manner. Steven hoped Jennie was the latter.

"See you tomorrow, Steve." Jennie waved, walking off in a different direction and leaving Steven to walk toward the Lunch room alone.

Steven couldn't help but feel elated as he headed toward the table where his friends were all sitting around. It was break time and that meant fifteen minutes of hanging out with his friends. Jacob and Zito were already there sitting down and putting their backpacks up on the table. Zito looked tired and Jacob looked ready to punch something. Steven smirked and sat down next to them, putting his backpack on the floor by his feet.

"You look happy about something, Steve." Jacob said suddenly.

Steven smirked and closed his eyes. "Do I?"

"Did you get laid?" Zito murmured with a silly grin on his face despite his tired appearance.

"I wish." Steven laughed.

The topic of Steve's happiness went away as Sam and Cameron joined the table and sat down.

"Did you hear about what's happening?" Cameron said, looking up at them all with a worried expression on his face.

"No?" Zito raised an eyebrow.

"Six people have died in a month and a half here. That's a record, man." Cameron said. "They're supposed to announce something in third period about it. They might close down the school or something."

"What?" Zito looked shocked to this news.

"That's ridiculous." Steven grumbled.

"I know!" Cameron exclaimed. "Four Heart Attacks and Two Suicides isn't the school's fault."

"Why would they close down the school for something like that?" Jacob asked, drinking his milk.

"They might be trying to see if the deaths will stop if school closes." Steven said. "Any of you guys watch the news? This isn't just happening here."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I heard about that too." Cameron said, catching on to what Steven was saying. "Apparently there are heart attacks happening all over America. People think that the terrorists might be doing something like implanting things in our food to kill us off."

"Except it's only been happening to criminals in jail." Steven said. "Not actual citizens. So that theory doesn't make sense. Why would terrorists kill off our criminals? That's just helping us."

"Ugh, weird." Zito muttered. "Who cares, though?"

Steven couldn't help but feel a little happy to know that the news of his work was reaching, even the ears of Cameron Ball. Zito might not care, nor might Jacob, and maybe even Cameron, but Cameron was the only one in the group who would go around and tell people of his knowledge about something like this. Steven had already thought of something like this occurring a while ago. And it was interesting to see it in affect. And of course…

"Maybe the wrath of God is killing off all the evil people in the world or something." Cameron said.

Zito and Steven both laughed while Jacob scoffed into his arm.

"Wrath of God? Whatever." Zito muttered.

"I was kidding, Zito." Cameron said.

Steven sighed and looked at them all in silence. Cameron had no idea how close he was to being right. In a way, Steven was playing the part of God. Killing off the evil in the world. As they all sat there and forced their conversation away from the Criminal Killings, Steven couldn't help but wonder if he was doing a better job at doing away with evil than God himself. A common question in everyone's mind that questioned the very existence of God was "Why would a God allow bad things to happen to good people?" and there were many different responses to this involving words like "Satan's doing" or "God has a plan" but in the end Steven had formed his own conclusion. Nobody can control good or evil except for people, not God or Satan. It was up to humans to purge themselves of the evil in the world. And, as the bell rang and Steven rose from his seat, he was going to be the one to do it. He would finish God's work and wipe out evil in the world for good.

And just like how Cameron had said, as Steven settled down into his third period behind Jacob and in front of their newfound friend, Noah, the announcements came on and Ms. Beeson's voice introduced herself to the Student Body.

"Sorry for the interruption, this is Ms. Beeson." She began and Steven immediately focused his attention away from the students around him and listened to the intercom. "As many of you know, last Friday Heather Larson died of Heart failure. In the past few weeks there have been five other deaths in the student body, including the three students who died of heart failure on the first day of school as well."

"And we regret to inform you that, starting next week, the school board will be meeting to decide whether or not to close down the school for a little while and find out the reason behind all these deaths. If the Deaths stop, then the school will reopen and we will assume that it was just a passing disturbance and misfortune. We will then continue the amount of school days we lost over into the Summer, including you, Seniors. However, this is only if the School Board decides to act upon this. I will inform you of the decision next week on Monday. Goodbye."

The intercom went silent but already there was uproar throughout all the classes in the school building.

"Carry on into the summer! WHAT!?"

"It's just heart attacks and suicide! This isn't fair!"

"Close school!! Yah!"

"Shut up, idiot! This is serious!"

"Calm down, children." Mr. Mejelli said and for the first time he looked kind of serious. "Don't worry too much, alright. Let's just focus on safety in the shop and remember to wear goggles!"

Steven rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair. It was a mistake to announce all of that on the intercom. Of course, they had no choice since they couldn't just do it later when the decision is already made. But to make the student body this on edge wasn't going to help. People would be blaming each other for the suicide of Sean Church probably and if Heather Larson was involved with as much drama as she claimed then there would probably be fights involving that situation as well. And then there was the fact that there was another Death Note user out there. If they decided to start killing off Hazen students just for the hell of it then that could be problematic and turn the school into a living hell. If anything, it would be preventing what Steven was trying to do.

Steven's fist tightened in his pockets. This Chess Game was already more interesting with that school announcement. It made him want to catch his opponent even more than before. And he was determined to do so. After all, he'd cast the first move and would be finding out the outcome of that first move by the end of the day. But to wait so long and continue his feeble studying of the students around him was boring. So far, nobody he'd met really issued off a feel of being capable to handle the Death Note. The school was full of people who were idiots and would use it too out of hand. And since this person used the Death Note to kill Heather and nobody else so far, then that must mean that they're either too afraid to keep going and ditched the Death Note somewhere, or is biding their time like Steven and is planning their own tactics for finding him.

When the bell sounded and Steven left third period with Jacob, they went straight to the lunch room and lined up for their food. On their way, Steven had kept an eye out in case he saw Jennie again like on Friday but there was no sign of her this time. Too bad. When they got their food and headed outside like they always did, Steven saw Zito sitting by himself on the stone platform that held the tree they all sat around every day.

"Yo!" He greeted them.

"No Katlynn today?" Steven pondered.

"Guess not." Zito shrugged.

Jacob immediately went into a conversation with them about something like they always did. Lunch without a lot of people seemed kind of boring and there wasn't much to talk about except for…

"I can't believe they're going to close down school." Zito muttered.

"They're not going to close it down." Steven spoke up suddenly, having been sitting quietly eating his hamburger the entire time. "They're only thinking about it. I don't think the school would do something that drastic yet."

"Hm. Maybe." Zito shrugged. "It's weird though."

"Man, who gives a shit." Jacob said, kicking the platform and eating a french-fry.

Steven frowned down at his backpack and opened his mouth to say something else but the doors to their left opened suddenly with a loud "Bang!"

They all looked up and saw two people come out. One was Katlynn, finally arriving arm in arm with a boy.

"Andrew!" Jacob said, standing up and looking at them.

Andrew? What was he doing there?

Andrew smirked and looked at them all with his arm around Katlynn's. He was a tall, skinny eighteen year old boy who had been friends with them for a while now and had been going out with Katlynn since last year. Zito didn't have too much of a problem with Andrew but Steven always felt a sense of despise toward the man.

Today, Andrew was wearing a black shirt and a green, striped tie along with a pair of baggy, purple pants that had a chain swinging from his waistline. He had a strange, almost gothic appearance most of the time which was funny because Andrew liked to consider himself the most mature in the group.

"What are you doing here?" Steven asked curiously.

"I'm skipping." Andrew shrugged, looking directly into Steven's eyes for a split second before turning away to smile down at Katlynn.

Andrew didn't have lunch with them normally because of his classes but today he was skipping? How odd. Steven sighed and looked down at his hamburger. He really didn't want Andrew there but he wouldn't say anything. One of the only reasons he continued to sit by and allow Andrew's presence was for the sake of his friendship with Katlynn. She absolutely "loved" him, or so she thought. And she would side with him on anything.

Andrew stayed outside with them for the rest of the lunch period, acting lovey dovey with Katlynn on the platform while Jacob performed some kicks and Zito made jokes. Steven remained silent and watched, for some reason not feeling in the mood to be social at the moment. It had nothing to do with Andrew being there, he just didn't have the mood set for him. Of course, they would think his mood would have to do with Andrew and he would have to deny that later just so they could stop thinking such ridiculous things as they always did.

Steven sighed as the bell rang and he stood up with his backpack slung over his shoulder. As he was leaving, he noticed Katlynn giving him an odd, wide eyed look of shock. He returned it with a raised eyebrow, but she looked away, realizing that she'd been caught. Steven frowned and continued to head toward the door.

"See you fifth period, Zito." He said, leaving the group first.

What was with that look Katlynn gave him? Steven wondered this for a few seconds but decided that it was probably nothing to be concerned about. With a sigh, he continued down the hallway toward his science class…

Sixth period was over. Finally, after a day of paying careful attention to all his surrounding class mates he'd come up with the conclusion that none of them were very plausible for being the other Death Note user. As he boarded the bus, he saw Jennie come walking out from the school heading toward her own bus. Steven felt the familiar jolt in his chest when he saw her. She looked happy about something as she boarded Route 1 and disappeared from view.

_Better be careful, Steve…Don't want to look like a stalker._ The little voice in his head muttered wickedly and Steven closed his eyes, turning away from the window. But he couldn't help it. It wasn't like he was searching for her or anything, they just happened to cross paths every now and then. And when he did see her, he wasn't able to look away for some reason. Why didn't he notice her before? _Stupid Steven…_ He thought with a frown as the buses started up.

Steven looked back out the window as the buses turned to head out of the parking lot. He saw a bird like thing fly off from the roof of the building and he smiled.

The whole bus ride home Steven thought about Jennie. He would be going to a picnic at a park right next to his house in two days, after-all. And originally he'd planned on bringing salmon and steak just to be funny but now that he thought more about it, it didn't seem to be possible for him. He didn't even know how to cook steak OR salmon, especially for a bunch of people at a picnic. He'd probably just end up bringing some chips and soda or something.

But why had Jennie asked to him the picnic? Was this some kind of plan of hers or was she just trying to be nice. Maybe (an uncomfortable squirm entered his stomach at this thought) she felt sorry for him. Maybe she thought he was just some ugly, lonely geek who didn't talk much in Government class and wanted to make up for breaking his DVD holder…

_Wow…I'm surprised I didn't think of that already…_ He thought and as he got off the bus he couldn't help but feel a bit moody and walked home faster than anyone else.

Once inside his house, he slammed his bedroom door and sat down on his bed to contemplate. The first thing he noticed was that Zando wasn't there. But he didn't care too much right now. His thoughts were still wrapped around the Jennie issue. What if she really did think of him as some kind of nerd and had only been joking with him this entire time? He imagined going to the park with the chips and soda in hand only to find nobody there…

"Something wrong, Steve?" said a voice behind him and Steven looked over his shoulder in surprise. Zando was standing next to his lamp with a wicked grin on his face.

"You're late." Steven said scornfully.

"You look angry about something." Zando tilted his head slightly. "What happened?"

"Nothing." Steven said shortly. "Now tell me, Zando…How did it go?"

Zando paused for a second with a twisted grin on his face. "Well…It went fairly well, I'd say."

"Did you see who it is, then?" Steven asked, turning around to face the Shinigami. Suddenly, all thoughts of whether or not Jennie liked him were flushed from his mind and his attention was focused on the Death God.

"Yes." Zando said. "And you're not going to believe who it is…"

129


	10. Eyes

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Ten

Eyes

_**Now let's go back to that morning from a different view…**_

Zando awoke in a sleepy state to the sound of water. Steven was in the shower which meant the Shinigami had a little while before he would be rudely awoken by the sound of Steven returning to his room to change. Zando yawned and rolled over on the floor. He had been having a good dream about bananas and now he had to wake up. Steven was going to make him wake up anyway so he guessed it didn't really matter.

With a sigh of annoyance, Zando remembered what Steven had discussed with him the previous night after he'd told him about his fight with the Hunter. Apparently the kid had come up with some kind of plan or something. Zando didn't feel like listening to Steven's incoherent mumbling under his breath, so he didn't hear what it was. Zando grumbled and tried to remember what else they'd talked about but nothing came to mind.

The bathroom door opened and Steven stepped out with a towel around his waist, ignoring the Death God on the floor and putting his school clothes on instead.

"Wake up, Zando." He muttered to him.

"Why? Aren't I staying home from school today?" Zando replied, his face in the carpet on the floor.

"That was the original plan." Steven said, slipping his shirt on over his head. "But I came up with something else last night that I'm deciding to go through with."

"You mean I'm coming?" Zando asked, sitting up a bit.

"Yes." Steven said.

"But I thought…" Zando paused, trying to recall what Steven had said. "…If I came, then the Hunter will see me and we'll both be found out."

"That remains to be true." Steven said. "If the Hunter sees you with me then it will tell whoever the other Death Note user is and they'll both kill us."

"So then how will I come with you?" Zando asked.

"You'll be going to school, but you won't be coming with me." Steven said. "You got wings, you can fly. Go to the school right now and do exactly what I tell you to do."

"And what do you want me to do?" Zando asked.

"There are cameras all over the school building." Steven said. "And the security room is sitting right above "the edge". If you hide in there you can watch all the videos and spot out where the Hunter is and who it is with. Since nobody but me and the Hunter can see you in this world then you should be safe. You can also move through objects to increase the chances of staying hidden from the Hunter. You should enter the building through the ceiling, which is another reason why I suggest you fly there right now before too many students get to the school."

Zando blinked, taking in this plan with an apprehensive look. "There's a risk that I'm going to die, though, right?"

"We're both at risk right now." Steven said. "But by doing this, you'll be able to see who the Hunter is following on the video cameras and then after school you can fly back here and tell me."

"You can bring this with you." Steven added, taking out a thin book. "It's a yearbook and its got everyone from Seniors, Juniors, and Sophomores in this year in there. And if the person you see with the Hunter isn't in there then it must be a Freshmen or a new student. That way I'll at least narrow it down a bit. But I doubt it's a Freshman or New Student because of the way this guy's been acting."

Zando frowned. The Shinigami was hiding something from Steven. The truth about the Death God's eyes. He didn't want to help Steven by telling him now, however, and would wait to see if it was all that necessary.

"Hey, Steve…" Zando muttered. "After school, there is something that I need to tell you…"

"Why can't you tell me now?" Steven asked curiously.

"I'll explain later." Zando said, standing up and stretching.

"You seem to be hiding a lot from me lately, Zando." Steven frowned.

"Sorry." Zando apologized. "Let me make that up to you by helping you with your plan."

"I suppose I'm just glad that you are actually helping me." Steven sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "After what you told me last night, I thought you would only be doing things to help you out only. But then I remembered that by helping me get rid of the other Death Note user, it will be helping you be getting rid of the Hunter."

"That too is a good reason." Zando nodded.

"See you after school, then." Steven smirked.

The Shinigami nodded and turned around. Zando's shoulders ruffled for a second and then spread into long, feathery wings that spread out around him. He took off and flew straight on up through the ceiling and into the morning dawn sky.

The Shinigami remembered the last time he went flying like this and being stopped by the Hunter. The fight, luckily, wasn't much of a fight. More like a chase if anything. Zando faltered slightly as he flew, for there was a scar on his right wing where the Hunter had slashed him in flight.

Zando pushed memories of that night out of his mind and enjoyed the view of the morning sun rising over the horizon. He could see Hazen High School standing in the distance and already cars were driving into the parking lot, mainly teachers. Zando landed on top of the roof and fell through it where he landed in one of the top hallways.

"He said it was by the "Edge"." Zando muttered to himself, running down the hallway and turning the corner where he found himself looking over the balcony to the Edge. There were a couple of students walking around but no Hunter. Zando scratched his chin, wondering where the security center could possibly be and then saw a door to his right leading into a room looking out over the slowly social progressing room bellow.

"Is that it?" Zando wondered out loud, walking toward it and going through the door as if it weren't there.

The Shinigami was standing in a small, dark, boxed, empty room filled with television monitors, a shelf full of video tapes, and a window overlooking "The Edge". It was an interesting room. Each of the TVs was showing different corridors and classrooms throughout the building. Many TVs were split screened to show four or eight rooms. So all Zando had to do was sit there all day and watch the monitors to see if he could spot the Hunter? Sounded easy. But boring as hell.

Zando sighed through the slits of his nose, glaring down at the nearest TV. This was Steven's grand plan? For Zando to sit there for six and a half hours while Steven got to roam the school and have fun. Oh well, it wasn't like it was any different from before when all he did was follow Steven around and listen to him. But at least when he did that he could study the social behaviors between the humans. He always found them quite interesting.

Zando searched the room for any sign of bananas as the buses started to pull in. But Zando was left unlucky as always. Great, no food either.

And then something spotted his eye on the camera. Zando leaned in closer and saw something getting of the bus with some of the other kids, except it had floated straight through the window as if it weren't there.

_Shinigami!_ Zando thought, recognizing the Hunter's face straight away. But there was a crowd of students beneath him and Zando couldn't make out any of their faces or…

The Death God gave a yelp of surprise when the door behind him opened and to his shock, Mr. Bailey walked in with a banana half eaten in his hand. "Damn that Shaunesty…." The Security guard muttered, collapsing into his seat next to the invisible Shinigami and glaring through his shades at the televisions.

Zando stared at the banana with a look of desire on his face but quickly remembered that he had to be watching the cameras. He looked back but the Hunter was gone as well as the group of students it had been following. Zando couldn't see the faces of any of the kids and even if he could he wouldn't have been able to tell which the Hunter belonged to because they were all together in a pack making it impossible. But the Hunter was definitely at school now, which means Zando was officially in danger.

And then a horrifying thought crossed his mind. What if the other Death Note user was just like Steven and thought of having the Hunter placed in the very same security room to do exactly what Zando was doing?

Instinctively, Zando looked around his shoulder but the door was closed and there were no signs of a Shinigami there.

Mr. Bailey continued to mumble stuff under his breath, completely unaware of Zando's presence there. Zando sighed and continued to do his job, hoping that the Hunter wouldn't come up behind him when he wasn't looking and kill him. Zando couldn't help but feel fear at this horrible thought and when Mr. Bailey yawned the Shinigami was forced to jump in fright. But the security guard was just getting up to leave, the banana peeling left forgotten upon the desk.

And then Zando was alone. Even though Mr. Bailey's presence there didn't mean anything, it did feel comforting to not be isolated with the possible looming threat of danger behind his back. And he was hungry.

Zando picked up the banana peel and stared at it for a few seconds hesitantly. It still had the scent of a banana and it was better than nothing. So he swallowed the peel whole and gulped it heavily down his throat.

Three hours passed and Zando had decided that it would be safe to assume that the Hunter wasn't going to go in there with him. There had been some occasional times where the Shinigami spotted the Hunter in the hallways but it would only be for a brief couple of seconds and it was never with anyone that he could see clearly by themselves. So the day wore on into lunch and Zando found himself sitting in the chair and leaning against the desk with a bored expression on his face.

If he couldn't spot the Hunter's human in the hallway then what were the chances of him seeing them alone during lunch hour?

Zando's attention snapped to one of the smaller television screens and his eyes widened with shock. _So that's who it is…_ He thought, a wicked smile spreading across his face. _Looks like things are going to be a bit more interesting if that's the case…_

Zando squinted a bit harder to confirm what he saw and after a few seconds he smiled and nodded to himself. "Yup, that's the one. So the Hunter is following that boy, is he?"

The Death God stood up, preparing to leave but stopped. If he left and flew away now…then the Hunter might see him and everything would be ruined.

Great, so for his own safety Zando would have to wait inside the security room all day anyway. He supposed that he could leave during a class hour so that the chance of being seen were gone completely but then what would he do? Fly around outside and wait for three more hours?

The hunter turned and looked directly up at the camera and all thoughts of leaving were wiped from Zando's mind. _What the…?_

The Hunter stared at the camera for a few seconds in silence. Zando watched with batted breath but the nothing else happened. Why did the Hunter look at the camera? Did he know that he was being watched? Impossible. There was no way to look into this room unless you were in the edge and if that had happened then Zando would've noticed and not once did he see the Hunter in the edge all through that day. But then why did it look at the camera? Was it just a coincidence?

No, it felt like the Hunter had been looking directly at Zando himself, almost daring him to do something.

Zando frowned and shook his head. No, it wasn't possible. The Hunter couldn't possibly—

"I know you're there." The Hunter said suddenly and its voiced echoed from the monitor screen. "You're not fooling anyone."

Zando opened his eyes and took a step back away from the camera. _What?_ Was Zando's ears playing tricks with him? He looked down at the monitor and saw the Hunter looking back up at the camera. The boy he was with gave no sign to have been hearing what the hunter had said which meant he must be pretending not to have heard him; kind of like what Steven did whenever Zando made a comment behind his back.

But how could the Hunter know Zando was there? Was he just messing around? Maybe the Hunter was only saying it on the off chance that Zando really was watching them. But what were the odds? Surely the boy was curious as to who the Hunter was talking about and would probably ask him once they were alone. But if the Hunter really did know Zando was there, then he was in immediate danger.

The Shinigami turned and fled from the security room, running down the hallways full of students. The bell rang signaling the end of lunch.

"Damn it." Zando muttered.

He rounded and corner and hid in the nearest room… A broom closet.

If Zando flew away, the Hunter would see him because of where he was right now. In fact, he was probably being hunted down even as he thought all this. Zando couldn't risk leaving the room for the rest of the day. If he did and came face to face with the Hunter, he would be dead.

"Damn you, Steven for making me do this." Zando muttered. "He doesn't even realize that the boy he's looking for is—"

Zando froze. There was a shadow outside of the door he was currently hiding behind. The Death God waited in fear as the door opened slowly and he was left facing…

The Janitor carrying a wet mop. Zando blinked as the Janitor stuck his hand straight through his torso to put the mop away. "Damn kids…" The Janitor muttered before closing the door and leaving the Shinigami in a state of fright.

Three hours later and the last bell rang. Zando had fallen asleep inside the broom closet and decided that he could risk leaving now with the absence of all the students in the upper hallways. He opened the door groggily and looked around. Not a Hunter in sight. He immediately flew up through the roof and onto the ceiling where he perched himself there for a minute to gaze at the sun. Being in the dark for so long made the sun seem too bright. After about a minute he was used to it and took off into the sky like a bird spreading his black wings. He soared high above and out of sight, making his way back toward Steven's house.

Zando didn't know that the Hunter had been sitting only twenty feet away on top of the roof, watching him with a smirk on his face and his massive blades resting by his sides. It had long hair and wore a cracked mask with eye holes revealing bulging black pupils that were similar to Zando's eyes.

"What a disgrace to the Shinigami." The Hunter muttered to himself in a dark, musky kind of voice. "You will live today, Zando, because of what you told me earlier, but…Don't think that I'll give you this opportunity again…"

_**And now we return to present time, that same day, after school in Steven's bedroom…**_

"Did you see who it is, then?" Steven asked.

"Yes." Zando said and a wicked smirk lifted across his face. "And you're not going to believe who it is."

"Wait!" Steven said suddenly, holding up his hand to stop him.

"Huh? What?" Zando was slightly taken back.

"You said this morning that there was something you were going to tell me after school." Steven recounted. "Tell me it now before you tell me who it is."

Zando frowned. "Alright, now don't get mad but…Well, I forgot to tell you something that I didn't think was very important because you didn't seem like the type to do it but…I might as well tell you now since these recent events have reminded me."

He took out the yearbook Steven had given him and tossed it to Steve. "I didn't need to bring this with me."

"Why?" Steven asked, crossing his arms and leaning back into his pillows.

"Because a Death God has the ability to see a person's name above their heads." Zando said.

Steven blinked and looked up. "Really?"

"Yeah." Zando nodded. "As well as their life span…"

Steven frowned. "And you had to wait to tell me that now…why?"

"Because I don't want to help you, Steven, unless it personally helps me." Zando replied. "You know that. And by telling you this now, I think it will help the both of us in the end."

"How so?"

"Because remember when I told you about how a Death God survives on the life span of humans they kill?" Zando asked and Steven nodded. "Well, there is another way for the Death God to gain life span from a human. It's through a certain deal…"

"What deal?" Steven asked.

Zando smirked. "The Deal between a Shinigami and a Human. The trade of the eyes, is what they call it. You gain the ability to see people's names and life spans of their heads and I gain half of your total remaining life span!"

Silence filled the room as Steven sat on his bed staring at Zando with a dark expression on his face. "Is that so…?"

"Yeah." Zando said. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you until now, but…well, I think you know why this is useful information, right?"

"Yeah." Steven said. "Because if what you said is true, then whoever had this other Death Note might have made the deal with the Death God already."

"That's right." Zando sighed.

"Tell me one more thing." Steven said. "What would happen if someone with the Shinigami eyes looks at someone who has Shinigami eyes or a Death Note as well?"

"Then they wouldn't see their life span." Zando said, surprised that Steven had already thought of something like that so quickly. "Why?"

"Because if that's the case, then…" Steven frowned. "If this other Death Note user did make the deal with the eyes and saw me, then that would mean they wouldn't have seen my life span and would know right away that it was me. Even if you weren't there with me all day."

Zando blinked. "I didn't think of that." The Shinigami admitted.

Steven glared down at his blanket in frustration. So there was a good chance that he had been found out all because he didn't know all of this information before hand…No, if that was true then why wasn't he dead yet? Maybe he had gotten away without being seen by this person. It all depended on the answer to his next question.

"Alright, Zando." Steven said, looking up at the Shinigami. "Who is it?"

_**Meanwhile…**_

"Oh! Oh my god!"

Katlynn moaned with pleasure as the movement of the waterbed came to an ease and Andrew gasped, collapsing on top of her underneath the blanket.

She smiled weakly and snuggled into his shoulder as they both lied their in her room with the fan blowing next to them to cool them off after a good twenty minutes of sex.

Andrew looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds in silence with a dark look on his face while his girlfriend nestled against him.

"What are you looking so serious for?" Katlynn asked.

"Don't be stupid. You know why." Andrew muttered coldly.

He rolled away from her and looked over at the corner of the room. Standing there by the closet was none other than the Shinigami Hunter.

"I can't believe it's him." Andrew muttered, glaring out the window.

Katlynn narrowed her eyes and sat up as well, covering herself with a blanket so that the Shinigami couldn't see. "I'm sorry." She muttered.

"No, you did fine." Andrew told her. "Though if I hadn't decided to make you do the eye deal with Ryoku, here…" He gestured to the Hunter in the corner briefly. "Then we wouldn't even know it was him."

"Yeah." Katlynn frowned and looked down at the bed in silence.

Andrew didn't notice and was too busy staring out the window with a smirk on his face. "When you saw him, you were sure that he was the only one without a life span above his head, right?"

"Yeah. Everyone else had numbers but he didn't." Katlynn muttered, looking disgusted with herself.

"Why don't you kill him right now?" The Hunter named Ryoku asked, remaining rooted to the spot like a soldier wearing long, ragged clothes.

"Simple." Andrew said. "I want his Death Note. But if I kill him now then someone else might find it and take it, and if I make him burn it before he dies then I won't get it anyway. I want that Death Note, Ryoku."

Andrew looked at the Hunter with a frown. "You're sure Zando saw us?"

"Yeah." Ryoku nodded. "I can sense a Shinigami's presence when they're watching me."

"Then that means he must know that it's me by now." Andrew sighed. "Too bad, I don't think he could've predicted that I'd have Katlynn using Shinigami eyes. Plus, I got a more reliable Death God on my side than him. Though I must say, Ryoku…" He glared at the Shinigami darkly. "If you hadn't told Zando at lunch that you could see him then Steven wouldn't think that I knew that he had been watching me and I could use that to my advantage."

"My apologies. I wasn't thinking." The Hunter bowed respectfully.

Ryoku and Katlynn both watched as Andrew stood up from the bed, the blanket slung over his shoulder and a Death Note in his hands, as he stared out the window into Katlynn's backyard. "Steven…" he muttered. "You aren't smart enough to use the Death Note. You don't deserve that kind of power."

Steven stood from his bed, glaring at the window with a grimace on his face. Andrew was the person with the Death Note. It had to be. Andrew was the only person who Steven hadn't hung out with during lunch that day and since Zando saw the Hunter outside with Andrew that must mean it had to be Andrew.

He couldn't believe that he'd been sitting right next to the Hunter for an entire half an hour, glowering about his problems with Jennie and his despise, no, his hatred toward Andrew. But Andrew was the one.

Now that he thought about it, Katlynn had given him a strange look when he was getting up to leave. If Andrew had forced her to do the eye deal with the Hunter then that means she would see that he was the only one there without a life span above his head. It seemed like the kind of cruel, possessive thing for Andrew to do, making Katlynn have the Death God's eyes instead of himself. Shortening his own girlfriend's life in half just for a chance that she would see him… By now she would've told Andrew that she saw him without a life span which means that they were both aware of each other's possession of the Death Note now...

"Damn you, Andrew." Steven muttered, glaring out his bedroom window into the forest that stood in his backyard. The Hunter had seen Zando somehow through the cameras which means Andrew knew that Steven knew it was him and was probably thinking the same things that he was thinking at that very moment.

Whatever it was, they were both still on same territory. And neither of them were dead. Steven eyed the Death Note on his bed and smirked. He could easily write in Andrew's name right now if he wanted. And there wasn't a doubt in his mind that Andrew was thinking the same thing about him. But Andrew hadn't yet…which meant that he was waiting for an opportune moment. This could only mean that Andrew was after his Death Note as well, or wanting to join sides with him but that didn't seem plausible.

Steven pounded his fist into the wall a couple times lightly, thinking deeply about the situation while Zando stood watching by the lampshade waiting to see what came next. Steven knew he couldn't kill Andrew right now precisely because if he did that then someone else could find his Death Note before him and the cycle would never end. Steven would just have to somehow get the Death Note from Andrew himself and take it as his own before killing him.

This was still a chess match, only this time their lives were depending on their keepsake of their Death Notes. If either of them got their hands on the other Death Note then that meant certain death for that person. Yes, there was no other way and they both knew it. This was only the beginning of their duel for the Death Notes. It had been Steven's intention from the beginning to the other Death Note as his own, after-all.

Steven could feel a strange sense of excitement as he thought about this all in his head. A sadistic smile spread across his face. "I will win this battle." He muttered. "Andrew…You don't deserve the power of this Death Note…I will take it from you and write your name in the very same Death Note you hold now."

_**Two Boys. Two Death Notes. And only one victor. Whoever gets the Death Note from the other wins and the loser dies. Those are the rules. Let the game begin…**_

144


	11. Reasons

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Eleven

Reasons

"Why don't you just kill him?" Zando asked as Steven sat down on his bed, Death Note in hand.

"Isn't that obvious?" Steven asked.

"Uh…No?" Zando muttered dumbly.

Steven sighed. "Well for one thing I don't want the Death Note to get into anyone else's hands. I mean, yeah, I could make him bury it in a place that I know about and then just kill him off so that I don't have to worry about someone else finding it until I do but you already told me a while ago that if the person with the Death Note dies then their Shinigami takes the Death Note back, right? Which would mean the Hunter would end up getting it from Andrew once he died and since the Hunter is always with him _and_ since the Death Note doesn't affect Death Gods then it would be pointless to kill Andrew right now. If anything it would make matters worse because the Hunter could just give the Death Note to somebody else that he saw fit to have it and the cycle would just continue."

"Wow." Zando muttered. "I guess I just don't think that hard about this stuff."

"Good thing I'm here then to catch you up." Steven smirked. "Though I'm still mad at you for not telling me earlier about the Death God eye trade thing."

"Huh?" Zando blinked. "You are?"

"Yeah." Steven frowned. "I understand that you forgot but this morning you remembered and still didn't tell me."

"Well that would have been helping you directly." Zando shrugged. "I didn't want to help you unless I had to."

"Even if you had told me this morning it would still be helping you." Steven muttered darkly. "Though I suppose I couldn't have predicted that Katlynn would have the eyes unless I had some kind of suspicion over her already. I did think it was weird that Andrew came out at lunch today for no apparent reason and how Katlynn was giving me an odd look when I was leaving…"

"Yeah, the Hunter was with you the whole time." Zando smirked. "I was watching it."

"And then it told you somehow that it could see you watching us." Steven frowned. "I don't understand that part."

"Hunter Shinigami have abilities passed on to them granted by the Death King to give them an advantage against their prey."

"And weapons aren't enough? Jeez." Steven leaned back onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling. "So the Hunter can sense when someone is looking at him, then? That must be it…"

"I forgot that it could do something like that." Zando admitted.

"You're not a very reliable Shinigami, are you?" Steven muttered grouchily.

Zando looked saddened by this and dropped his head. Steven looked at him out of the corner of his eye for a second before rolling over and grabbing the Death Note. "But at the same time, if it weren't for you, I'd be dead right now."

"Huh?" Zando looked up.

"Andrew must've realized all of this by now and knows that if he killed me, you'd just take my Death Note and disappear and his plans would be ruined." Steven explained. "It's the same situation that I'm in right now. Which is why the first to get their hands on each other's Death Note will win this."

"But how are you going to do that?" Zando asked.

Steven stared down at the Death Note for a few seconds in silence before looking up at Zando with a smile on his face and the Shinigami couldn't help but feel a little impressed. Steven must've already come up with some plan.

"I have no idea." Steven grinned.

"What?!" Zando exclaimed, not expecting this answer.

"Calm down." Steven laughed. "I'll think of something by tomorrow. You have to understand, all of this information has come pretty fast and I got a lot on my mind right now. But I guarantee I'll have a plan to divulge you with."

Steven stood up and walked toward his door leaving the Death God to sit there with a disappointed and confused expression on his face.

"Don't worry, Zando." Steven said, resting his hand on the door. "You won't die, I can't let that happen because then I'll die. But at least—" He turned and looked at the Shinigami with a smirk. "—I'm fulfilling my promise."

"What promise?" Zando asked.

"To keep things interesting for you." And with that, Steven turned and left his bedroom. "I'm going to take a bath." He said, closing the bathroom door behind him while Zando looked down at the Death Note on the bed with a blank expression.

Andrew sat back down on Katlynn's bed, resting his elbows on his knees and glaring down at the carpet.

"What are you going to do?" Katlynn asked softly, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"We're not dead yet." Andrew muttered. "Which means Steven has at least realized that if he killed me then Ryoku would just take my Death Note and give it to someone else. Or maybe he thinks you would take it and use it out of revenge and kill him. But that would be stupid because he could just kill you too."

Katlynn frowned slightly and Andrew got the feeling that Katlynn didn't believe Steven would be capable of doing something like that to them. Andrew frowned and looked at her. "Katlynn, you can't trust him. I've been telling you that from the beginning."

Katlynn shifted her eyes uncomfortably and he hugged her but there was an evil look in his eye as he did so. "I can't risk going to lunch with you guys very often which means you need to keep and eye out for him."

"But he knows that I have the eyes by now, right?" Katlynn muttered.

"Probably." Andrew sighed. "But he wouldn't dare say something in front of Zito or Jacob unless he's completely retarded."

"I don't know what I'll do." Katlynn muttered. "What I'll say…I'm not a good actor…"

"You'll be fine. If you do exactly what I tell you to do." Andrew said. "Besides, Ryoku will be with you during lunch hours to correct you if you make any mistakes."

"How is he gonna follow me?" Katlynn asked frightfully. She didn't seem to like the idea of the Hunter following her around all day.

"Just keep a page of the Death Note in your back pack with you and he'll be able to leave my side and stay by yours." Andrew told her. "Don't worry. I'll be doing all of the main stuff. I got a feeling he'll want to talk to me alone tomorrow."

"Why?" Katlynn said, taken aback.

"Because he already acted by making his Death God find out about me today." Andrew said. "This tells me that he's impatient and likes to get things done quickly and will probably do another risky move tomorrow. But I'll be ready. He's not a threat."

"Do you…really think that he killed all those people?" Katlynn asked quietly.

"Yeah." Andrew nodded. "It all makes sense if he did. The Mexican students on the first day were probably just his practice targets."

"Really?" Katlynn looked shocked.

"Same with the rest of the students…except for Heather." Andrew sighed.

Katlynn frowned. "I still can't…believe you did that."

"I did what was needed to be done." Andrew said and for the first time he directed his anger toward his lover. "How was I supposed to know if this thing was real?"

"You could have just waited for me to show up." Ryoku muttered.

"Well…" Andrew sighed and looked away from them all. "I'm also…impatient."

Silence filled Katlynn's bedroom for the first time that evening.

Katlynn looked like a wounded animal and was crouched upon her bed holding her arms across her chest and looking down at the sheets with a frown. Andrew stood up and walked past the Hunter to grab his clothes and put them on.

"Your parents will be home soon." He muttered.

"Like they'll care…" Katlynn said softly, looking up at her boyfriend. "Andrew…Why do you have to kill Steven? Why do you have to have his Death Note so badly?"

"Don't be stupid." Andrew said just like before, not looking at her and not giving an explanation.

"Why do you hate him?" Katlynn gritted her teeth, unsure if speaking to him like this was a good decision.

"He hated me first." Andrew replied casually.

"You don't know that."

"Catheryne told me so."

Katlynn frowned. "Oh, of course she did…"

Andrew glared at her from over his shoulder. Him and Catheryne Baker had gone out not too long ago. In fact, he'd dated Baker twice, same with Katlynn, actually. He was still friends with her, but Katlynn had always resented her immaturely. Even Andrew thought so.

"Don't do that." Andrew snapped.

"Do what?"

"Act like you're sad. You have no reason to be sad so stop it."

Andrew turned and left the room leaving Katlynn alone on the bed. Ryoku the Hunter remained where he was for a second or two before following Andrew out of the room. He didn't have a look of emotion on his face and even if he did it would be impossible to tell with the strange mask and all the strange of hair.

"Was that a human fight I just witnessed?" Ryoku asked.

"No." Andrew muttered, sitting down at the computer in a different room as if it were his own. "She's just being emotional right now."

Ryoku was silent for a few seconds, staring down at Andrew as if studying him. "You know." The Hunter began. "It seems to me like you have no consideration for anyone and only see people for what you want them to be. And if they act out of line then you get mad. Such as Katlynn or this Steven guy."

Andrew glared at the Shinigami. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." Ryoku said. "Don't worry; I won't judge you for it. I am a Shinigami and have no opinion to be based on any subject. I do, however, study humans and their interactions so that I can further my knowledge of them. It makes them that much more interesting creatures. It also lets me enjoy watching things happen such as this conflict between you and this other Death Note boy."

"Shut up." Andrew snapped. "You don't know me at all. You come here two days ago and expect me to believe that you're some wise old Death God who can see who I really am that quickly?"

"Yes, I do." Ryoku said, still staring at Andrew with a blank expression. "You're a very peculiar boy compared to others. And I can see you wanting to respond with anger but your responses are quite inadequate…You need more time to think about things than other people and your sense of right and wrong are clouded by personal trauma."

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Andrew grumbled.

"You're only further proving my point." Ryoku said and Andrew glared even harder at the computer screen.

"Alright, so what if you do think you know everything about me?" Andrew said, forcing himself to stay calm. "How does that help me at all?"

"I never said I'm here to help you." Ryoku said. "I'm only here to capture Zando or, if I have to, kill him. And if helping to defeat this Steven boy does that then I will do what you think I need to but I personally have no interest in helping you. The only reason I'm here was because some other Shinigami was careless enough to leave their Death Note lying around for you to find. And I'm also here to collect that from you and return it to its owner once you die."

"I know all that." Andrew muttered. "Leave me alone, I got to take care of something." He turned and grabbed the remote control for the television behind him. "I won't let Steven make the first move this time."

Steven sat in the bathtub, allowing the steam to rise up around him as the water soaked his flesh. It was comfortable, more so then he'd ever expected out of taking a bath. He hadn't taken one in so long and today was a good day to have one. It was relaxing and for a few minutes his mind was clear of thought,

Alright. Recount everything that happened. Images of Andrew and Katlynn and the mysterious figure of the Hunter in which he had not yet seen all floated to mind first. Andrew was the other user. Katlynn was his accomplice and had the ability to see anyone's name and life span except for his own. So far, Andrew had only killed one person which meant Steven still didn't know of his true goals as to why he was using the Death Note and why he wanted Steve's so badly.

Now what needed to happen? Zando had to stay alive. That was the first thing that came to mind. He couldn't risk having Zando come to school anymore. But Andrew knew where Steven lived. He could be on his way to his house right now with the Hunter by his side to take out Zando and Steven at the same time. But they weren't which meant they must've not thought of that, or because Andrew must think there's something stopping him from doing that.

But what was stopping him? The only reasonable explanation would be that Andrew must've forgotten. Plus, it was a greatly risky move because Andrew didn't know who Steven was with right now. Andrew wouldn't want to make himself look suspicious to anyone. So that plan was out the window.

But then what would Andrew be thinking? Would he possibly try to pull something at school? By now he would realize that Steven would never bring Zando to school with him again. So he would be thinking of some other way. The Hunter would be with him or Katlynn at all times…

And then it hit him. Andrew might actually try and get him alone and speak with him. Maybe Andrew actually wanted to work together with him. No, that's not Andrew. What's more likely would be that he would pretend to be buddies only to get closer to him and have a better chance at taking the Death Note. But something like that was also risky. Andrew would know that it would raise Steven's suspicions and make him trust him even less. But what if Andrew was actually underestimating Steven right now and didn't consider him much of a threat? Something like that definitely seemed like a more Andrew thing to do. But underestimating someone when dealing with a Death Note was a big mistake.

It was true, Steven didn't think Andrew was incredibly smart or anything which was probably why he felt so confident in winning this game with him. But he had to think of everything before making his move. He couldn't let one mistake get through or else Andrew might take advantage of that and use it again him. Andrew might or might not realize that. It all came down to who made the first mistake.

And so Steven sat in the bath tub for an hour thinking of different plans and trying to think of things that Andrew would do and different ways he could counter them with his own plans. And then finally a thought occurred to him. What if Andrew was simply not going to do anything and wait for Steven to make the first move? It was plausible that he would do something like that. Perhaps he'd try and turn his friends against him and make Steven feel cornered somehow. But Andrew was a horrible liar. If he tried to lie his way into making Steven alone without his friends he would fail. So if he were to try something like that then he would more likely observe Steven's behavior closely and use it against him somehow whenever he could.

Steven imagined more blunt ways of getting the Death Note. Corning Andrew somewhere alone and getting in a fight with him, stealing the Death Note, and killing him right then and there but the risk in that was greater than anything else. Someone could walk in, or maybe the Hunter itself had the power to kill humans without a Death Note. No, that wasn't possible. If it could then all it would have to do was kill Steven, hold his Death Note hostage and wait for Zando to appear to come get it. And Steven didn't carry his Death Note with him to school anymore anyway so Andrew and the Hunter wouldn't risk a plan like that either. Besides, Steven was confident that he could take out Andrew in a brawl if he had to.

And then there was Katlynn. He saw her every day at lunch. By now she would know that he knew her secret and since she was Andrew's accomplice in this she would probably be acting under his orders. But Katlynn was weak. If he could get her alone and say something unexpected to her and then she wouldn't know what to do and he may even be able to use this to lead Andrew into a trap and force him to make a mistake. And at once, Steven started thinking of ways he could do this.

And finally, the bath ended and Steven emerged, drying himself off and walking back into his room with a confident grin on his face.

"Tell me you thought of something." Zando said as Steven got changed.

"I thought of a lot of things." Steven muttered.

"Care to share?" Zando asked hopefully.

"No." Steven said and the Shinigami looked taken aback. "Consider this revenge for not telling me about the eye deal earlier." Steven smirked. "All you need to know is that you have to stay within this house no matter what. If I don't come home do not come looking for me."

"Alright." Zando frowned. "You're cruel."

Steven smiled. "Hey, you could've told me about the eye deal and we could have avoided all of—"

"Steven!!!" Amanda shouted and both of them turned around to face the doorway where his sister stood looking shocked about something.

"What?" Steven asked with a frown.

"George Bush, he's dead!" Amanda shouted. "The President's dead!"

155


	12. Liar

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Twelve

Liar

What a troublesome situation. Reports of wide spread deaths throughout America in the past month was, of course, going to cause an uproar. Terrorists, that was the immediate thought, but the fact that only criminals were dying seemed to negate that theory. As well as the fact that they were all dying from Heart Attacks. Every day, and at random times, criminals in prisons in every state would fall to their deaths dramatically. George Bush knew this. He didn't need the President's cabinet to advise him of this.

But how the hell could something like this actually happen? It didn't make any sense whatsoever. A nation-wide heart attack. People were already fleeing to Canada and Mexico in worry but most the population was staying because most of the population was smart enough to know that they were apparently safe as long as they didn't become a criminal. But that brought up the impossibility that there was someone out there literally dealing out these heart attacks like a pair of cards.

The president shook his head, thinking this was a ridiculous thing to think at all. Nobody could play the part of God like that and deliver deaths to criminals simply at their whim.

The Chief of State stepped down from the pedestal and George snapped his eyes up to attention. The speech was finished, which meant all of America would be waiting for the president himself to approach the pedestal and say something as well. A nation wide broadcast was nothing, he'd done hundreds of speeches before. But in truth, he hadn't felt this nervous since he'd announced that they would be going to war with Iraq.

What a troublesome situation, indeed.

People in the crowd clapped as George Bush stood from his seat, shook hands with the Chief of State, and approached the pedestal. In his hand, hidden from most of the crowd's view, was a cluster of note cards with his speech written on it. He'd only read through it once. _They'd_ written it for him just like they always did. Just do the same thing as always and it will be fine. Sure, half of America must've thought he was just an idiot anyway. George Bush knew that he was a joke to many citizens of the country. And he accepted that as mere mediocrity of the common low lives. He laughed sometimes at the idea of normal people approaching the very same pedestal he was walking up to now and seeing if they could deliver a speech to America involving the current issue of the heart attacks in American prisons.

"Good evening, America." George Bush greeted and the crowd quieted down. "Terror is what we've been fighting against all these years…Fighting against the terrorists in Iraq. Fighting against Osama Ben Laden. Fighting for peace, justice, and the good of mankind. These have been our goals and have always been our goals…" George Bush paused again. He'd been told a long time ago that a dramatic pause always made a speech more interesting and used this technique any chance he could. "But now, a new terror, threatens our nation."

"It's not a terror we can see. It's not one where we can predict when and where it's going to happen. People in prison who have done horrendous crimes and are serving their punishment are dying. And not by our Death Penalty, but by an unknown force…A mass production of cardiac arrests on each criminal is not the doing of this nation's government or legislatures. Every day for the past month, criminals have been dropping in their cells and we the people have no idea how it is happening."

Then why am I giving this speech, George Bush thought with a slight frown and was wondering, even hoping, that _they_ had written something to follow up these words as he secretly switched to his third note card and took advantage of this moment with another pause to create a dramatic affect on the crowd and to all who were watching at home.

"I will not be elaborating much more on the affects of these mysterious heart attacks…" George Bush went on. "However, I can assure you that the government is doing everything in their power to find the cause of this. And it is because of this that we will be amending such laws as telecommunication recall. We have a suspicion that there are people in this nation sending something to the prisons, whether it be food, gas, or some other means of causing a heart attack, they are doing it and hiding well. We will find the true meaning of this and get to the bottom of what is happening to our nation's prisons. And that is why I speak directly to you…"

George Bush paused, and read what it said on the note card. Raise your hand and look directly into the camera and repeat the following line…

The President looked up and stared determinedly into the camera in front of him, pointing his index finger at it as well to create even more of a pleasant dramatic effect. "We will find out who you are and where you are and hunt you down. Killing criminals in this nation is not a lawful act. It goes against the constitution and against our nation's ideals. Whoever you are, you are a criminal and we will—!"

George Bush gasped and clutched his pedestal, blinking back tears of pain. His pointing hand lowered and grasped his chest as he let out a moan of agony. _Impossible!!_ How could this happen? How could he be having a heart attack just like that? _No!_ There's no way this could happen. He himself didn't even believe that there was someone out their doing this to people and was only following the orders of _them_. Impossible! He can't die here! _No! NO!!_

But he collapsed in a heap onto the floor. The crowd screamed and immediately an uproar was created while the congressmen behind Bush all stood up in shock and rushed to the President' side.

"He's dead." One of them announced mournfully, touching a finger to the corpse's throat. "The president is dead!"

_**Miles and miles away on the other end of the country…**_

Steven stood next to his sister in the family room staring at the television with a horrified expression on his face while Zando the Shinigami floated in mid air behind him eating a banana.

A woman reporter on the television was saying that the president had just collapsed during the beginning minutes of his speech to the nation. It had been done nation wide which means everyone who had their TV on had seen the president die in front of them. For many, it would be the first time they'd watched someone collapse and never get up again. But for Steven, this meant something entirely different.

_Andrew!_ He thought immediately, his fist tightening. _What the fuck is he thinking!?_

Zando noticed Steven's angered expression as he told his sister "Oh well" and returned to his room in a furious silence.

"I'm guessing you didn't kill him, eh?" Zando muttered.

"Of course not." Steven snapped.

"Who was he?" Zando asked curiously.

Steven forgot how little the Shinigami knew of the Human world. "He was the president of the United States. Basically the leader of our country."

"Oh!" Zando blinked. "We don't have those in our world. We just have a king, that's all."

"Well, what would it be like if your king was suddenly killed?" Steven muttered coldly, sitting down on his bed and glaring down at the floor.

Zando snickered. "The King of the Death Gods can't die. He is the only true immortal in existence."

Steven frowned. "This doesn't make sense. Why would Andrew kill the president?"

"Maybe he was bored." Zando shrugged.

"It couldn't have been another test because it was a heart attack." Steven said. "And it happened during one of his speeches, and it was a speech about what I've been doing… This wasn't an accident. And America will realize that too. They'll think that anyone who tries to oppose me is going to die, which is true but I didn't want to reveal such a thing so soon. I had it all planned out and now it's ruined. Andrew could kill whoever he wants. He can take out our entire government if he wants…Damn him…"

"Why would he want to do that?" Zando blinked.

Steven continued to think for a few seconds before sighing. "Well, isn't that obvious? He's trying to smite me."

"What?" Zando tilted his head in confusion.

"He knows that I've been killing off all the criminals in America with my Death Note." Steven began to explain. "He must've realized by now that I've been going for a utopia. But that's not what Andrew's goals are. No…Andrew's goals are quite opposite actually. I can see that now. In a way he's hitting two birds with one stone. Framing me for killing the president and causing terror in the nation. Don't you see?" He looked up at Zando's face. "He's trying the plunge the world into mayhem."

"Why would he want to do that?" Zando asked with a slight smirk.

Steven stood up from his bed and began to pace around his room. "Andrew's had a rough life with his mom. His dad died when he was young and his mom is kind of a bitch. He lives in a run down house and has no food. So yeah, I say he might have an excuse for being a little angry at the world…when he was young. But he's old and about to be an adult now and I believe he still can't get over his anger and can't control it."

"So you're saying…" Zando muttered. "He's doing it all out of revenge?"

"Making the world feel fear to replace his pain." Steven nodded. "That's what he must think anyway. I don't think he's got much to complain about. Everyone's got problems and it's your choices that get you through and let you handle it. And he makes the wrong choices. That's what most people don't understand about him, is that because of his bad decisions in his past he's become evil."

"Evil." Zando scratched his chin. "That's harsh."

"I'm not saying it's entirely his fault." Steven muttered. "But he could've been better if he'd smartened up a bit early on in his life and not been a big fucking prude about everything. But I can see it in his eyes whenever I'm around him. There's evil in there. And this, killing the president, is apart of that. He's out for revenge."

Zando frowned. "If you say so…But what kind of evil things has he really done?"

Steven rolled his eyes and had a strange sensation that he was speaking to Zito about this issue. Zito was too blind to see Andrew for who he really was. But that was just Zito. He didn't think badly of anyone unless they personally did something bad to him and Andrew had been careful enough not to piss Zito off and turn him against him.

"Well, there's all the crap I told you about dealing with Baker and Katlynn. He's a manipulator and uses people, especially girls, to get what he wants." Steven said. "He's brainwashed Katlynn into liking him, that's for sure. And he manipulates his friends, like Zito, so that he doesn't get on their bad side…"

Steven felt the anger in him start to subside as he went on about Andrew's sins for the next couple of minutes. It was nice to talk to someone about this and not have to keep it all bottled up. And the best part was that Zando actually understood and would only ask stupid questions that he could easily answer. He could probably do the same with Luke and get more complicated responses than the one his Death God was dealing to him but it was all the same. Steven knew Luke had a similar opinion about Andrew like he did, after-all.

"So he's trying to show that he's doing the opposite of what you're doing?" Zando said when Steven had finished his rant.

"Yeah." Steven returned to his bed and flipped open the Death Note. "The problem is that it puts me in a difficult situation. People are going to think that I did this of course. Which means I have to live up to it somehow by showing that I didn't just kill Bush out of spite. But how?"

Steven sat down at the computer chair and looked at the screen. "Hey Zando, come here." He muttered.

The Shinigami joined his side and looked down at the computer in silence. "What is it?"

"Look at this." Steven smirked. "I have a name in the public's eye now."

Zando stared at a black page online with the words "Kira" printed above a strange angel symbol. "Kira?" Zando repeated. "What's that?"

"It's Japanese for "God" or something." Steven explained. "There's a ton of sites all over the web about this. The killer who is taking down criminals in America. Ever since Bush died they've become much more active. See…"

"You never told me about this." Zando muttered with a frown.

"You never told me about the eye deal." Steven said back, smirking as he scrolled down a forum. "This site shows all the people who are supporting Kira. It's happening just the way I wanted. They know there's someone out there doing this. And now that Bush is dead there is over twenty thousand online this site right now."

"That's amazing." Zando admitted.

"Kira…" Steven repeated, leaning back in the computer chair with a satisfied expression on his face. "I like it."

"I wonder if this will make the news media sometime." Zando said thoughtfully.

"You're catching on quicker than I thought." Steven said, looking at the Death God a little impressed. "Of course this will. The president just died. Kira is the criminal. That is what the nation is going to think."

"And how is Kira going to react to all the media attention?" Zando asked.

"Simple." Steven shrugged. "By doing the same thing. Killing criminals every day as always."

"What about what you said earlier?" Zando frowned.

"I decided that Andrew would probably want me to do something differently as Kira. But if I act that same then it will look like Kira is malevolent and would go as far as to kill the president to achieve his goals. In a way, this helps me. As long as I can prevent Andrew from doing anything too drastic in the future." Steven explained.

"And how are you going to do that?" Zando asked.

"I'll tell you about it after school, tomorrow." Steven smirked.

Zando looked sad at this news for some reason. Steven caught this and decided to address it. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"Sorry, it's just… So much has happened today." Zando muttered. "I forgot I couldn't come to school anymore."

"Just stay home and eat bananas." Steven said, absentmindedly. "Don't worry; you'll still see cool stuff in the future when Andrew and his Hunter are dead and gone."

Zando nodded glumly as Steven found the names and faces of criminals online. Amanda was nowhere in the vicinity and his parents weren't home so he'd decided to risk bringing a ripped out piece of the Death Note out of his room. He was still tired of remembering the faces of stupid criminal's everyday and didn't need that kind of thing today. So he wrote down six or seven names on the slip of paper and gave them random times for them to die before crumpling the paper up in his hand and slipping it into his pocket.

"I hate this fucking bus driver." Steven muttered with distaste as he and his sister shivered at the bus stop that morning.

It was dark out and they'd been waiting for ten minutes in the cold for their bus to arrive. Steven had already decided that he would kill the bus driver with the Death Note later and would try and find out her name after school.

His Death Note was locked away in his room with Zando, who was probably still asleep. It felt strange knowing that he would be going to school without the Shinigami by his side. It felt like ages ago that he had been scheming how to find the identity of the other Death Note killer but it had only been a day.

When the bus finally arrived and Steven was taken off to school, he recalled his plan in his head. Andrew had killed the president to spite Steven and reveal his true goals. This was true. It must mean that Andrew is testing him. To see what he would do. That part was also obvious.

_I'll show you what I can do, Andrew._ He thought with a devilish smirk. _I wonder how you'll react…_

"George Bush is dead!" Zito moaned.

"Yeah, I heard." Steven muttered, plopping down into a chair and yawning.

It was break time and Steven had joined their usual table in-between Zito and Jacob.

"I just found out." Zito muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"It's all over TV." Steven said. "He died of a heart attack, right?"

"Yeah, jeez."

"He wasn't that old, though." Jacob frowned. "Was he?"

"I don't know." Steven shrugged.

"Now the fucking terrorists are gonna see that we're weak." Zito moaned.

"What the fuck? No they won't." Jacob exclaimed.

"I'm kidding. Calm down." Zito said defensively.

Steven grunted, and looked down at the table, showing that he didn't want to listen to their politics right now. He'd just gotten out of second period and his thoughts were slightly clouded with images of Jennie. He'd once again forgotten of her existence in yesterday's chaos. So when they talked on their way out of class again that day he couldn't help but feel a little lighter inside.

How could talking to a girl he hardly knew for less than a minute have such a great affect on him like this? Steven felt a little strange and had forced himself more than once not to admit that he'd found a girl he was interested in to his friends. Zito and Jacob probably wouldn't care too much but if he went in depth to Luke, he would. Luke was the most intuitive in the group, even more so than Steven in many cases.

_I'll let them know when I invite them to the picnic tomorrow._ He thought. And with that, Steven looked up from the table and felt his heart skip a beat.

Approaching the table was Katlynn and Andrew, hand in hand. Steven kept a straight face. He was with friends. They couldn't possibly know of the private battle going on between the two of them. Andrew too, had a straight face and was smiling slightly down at all the people at the table.

"Andy, wassup!" Zito greeted them.

"Nothing much." Andrew shrugged shortly.

Steven listened as they talked for a little while. Was there really an invisible Hunter standing right behind the pair of them? Steven tried to imagine it and felt a cold sensation in the pit of his stomach. Now was the time to initiate his plan.

"Hey, Andrew." Steven said, glaring up at Andrew with a calm expression. Andrew's eyes immediately snapped to his face, almost as if he'd been waiting apprehensively for something like this to happen. He could feel Katlynn's eyes on him as well. But Steven went on, not breaking eye contact with him. "Can we talk in private somewhere?"

Andrew stayed seated in silence for a moment before smiling. "Sure."

"Good." Steven stood up and quickly glanced at Katlynn.

She was looking at Andrew fearfully. Andrew gave her a curt nod and turned to face Steven. "Where to?"

"Courtyard sound good?" Steven requested.

"Alright."

Both boys turned from the table and headed toward the double doors leading outside where they usually ate for lunch. Steven's first plan had already, luckily, worked. The fact that Katlynn was looking fearful and that Andrew had to give her a reassuring nod meant something. It meant that she was worried about him behind alone. Which meant the Hunter Shinigami was not by his side, but by Katlynn's. So Andrew must've ordered the Hunter to follow Katlynn around.

Steven thought about this as they made their way to the door. Could it be possible he was just overthinking? No. Why else would Katlynn look at Andrew like that and why else would he have to give her a nod? Was it possible that Andrew still had the Hunter following him and Katlynn was just worried that Andrew might possibly hurt him or get hurt? No, it had to be the first option. He didn't know for sure yet but he could find out now…

When they emerged outside they walked to the center of the courtyard and stopped, facing each other. Steven looked back into Andrew's eyes which were now quite different from before. They were dark and his face was contorted with disgust.

"Let me guess." Andrew said before Steven could start. "This is about the Death Note?"

"Yeah." Steven frowned.

"Well before you start railing questions off to me; let me ask you one thing." Andrew grumbled. "Why did you kill Bush?"

Steven blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Andrew snapped. "Why'd you kill him?"

Steven stared at him dumbfounded. "Are you joking?"

"No?" Andrew frowned, looking impatient.

"You're the one who killed him, though." Steven snarled. "Right?"

"Why would I kill Bush?" Andrew raised an eyebrow.

Steven stared at him in disbelief. Impossible. He had been so sure that it had been Andrew. How could he have not thought of the possibility of the killer being someone else?

"If you didn't kill him then who did?" Steven asked darkly.

"How should I know?" Andrew asked, realization poring over him.

They both stood their in awkward silence. Was Andrew lying? Steven studied his face briefly. If he was then he was doing a good job acting. Andrew wasn't exactly known for being honest. Maybe this was all part of his plan. Was it possible?

Steven frowned. Of course it was entirely possible. How could Steven not have predicted something like this happening? If he had, he could've thought of some elaborate plan but now he was forced to think on his feet. Andrew was lying to him. This was fact. Andrew, who had never shown any sign or concern about politics, wouldn't come at him like this expecting an answer when he himself didn't show any previous signs of having true motives for using the Death Note. There was only one reason behind this. Andrew was trying to trick Steven into thinking that he hadn't killed the president by pretending to accuse Steven of being the killer. Such a plan would work on a lot of people but Steven saw through this because he himself had a Death Note and knew of the kind of schemes he could pull on people like this. Reverse Psychology wouldn't work on him. But he could pretend like it did. Pretend like Andrew's plan had worked in order to see what else Andrew had up his sleeve.

"Let's cut the crap." Andrew sighed. "Where's your Death Note?"

Steven's eyes snapped to the doors around them. None of them were open and he couldn't' see any prying eyes. Nobody was listening. At least, to the best of his knowledge nobody was listening. And for Andrew to blurt out something like that in the school's vicinity was a risky endeavor, indeed. But either way he was forced to comply.

"You really think I'm stupid enough to bring it to school?"

This was the wrong thing to say and at once it became apparent that Andrew had indeed brought _his_ with him. Steven could see it in his eyes, the annoyed-surprised look that meant Andrew hadn't thought of that risk yet. But this was the man who had murdered the president of the United States. Steven was sure of it. He just had to play along.

"Why do you want to know where my Death Note is?" Steven asked.

"Just curious." Andrew shrugged dumbly and Steven was amazed that Andrew would think an answer like that would work on him. But he decided he'd hold that card off for now and focus onto a different subject.

"So if you didn't kill the president and I didn't kill the president…" Steven muttered, looking down and scratching his chin as if pretending to think hard about something. "Then that must mean there's someone else out there with a Death Note…"

"Yeah…I didn't think of that." Andrew admitted.

Steven couldn't help but smirk a little. Was Andrew seriously going to try and play dumb with him? Of course he'd thought of that already. That was the whole reason why he was lying in the first place. Andrew _wanted_ Steven to say that there was the possibility of another Death Note user. Which also meant that Andrew's true goal for this lie was the possibility of becoming partners with Steven in order to get closer to him and steal his Death Note when he had the chance. That must've been why he asked where it was right away.

What a faulty plan. Andrew may be good at thinking up ideas but his way of executing them wasn't as good as Steven's ability to do it. Unfortunately for Andrew, he wasn't going to fall for such an easy trick. And soon all the risks of teaming up with Andrew flowed through his mind. Sure, he'd thought about it earlier already. But now that he was faced with it, what other choices did he have?

"And what do you think of this?" Steven asked, looking up at Andrew, trying to bide more time.

Andrew blinked and started to pace. "Well, for one, I still think you're lying about killing Bush."

Steven scoffed under his breath. "Really?"

"Yeah, how do I know this just isn't your plan for getting me confused and thinking there's another killer out there, huh?" Andrew blurted out. "Seems pretty elaborate, and I know you're known for lying."

Steven glared at Andrew and decided not to retaliate right away. Seems like Andrew had thought of something similar to what Steven was thinking. Which meant he was taking the route of trying to act like the innocent one accusing Steven of lying when in truth it was Steven suspecting Andrew of lying. But Steven had kept this thought inside, while Andrew had said it out loud. So he was setting the table with pieces already. Steven was black and Andrew was white and the game had already started. So Steven was being made out to be the bad guy?

"Tell me something." Steven muttered calmly. "Why would I kill the president and blame you for it and then offer up the idea that there's another killer? What could I possibly gain from a plan like that?"

Andrew blinked and Steven could see a little anger seep through onto his face. He'd bluntly assaulted Andrew's own plan and he could see it taking affect like clockwork all over his expression. And it was forcing Andrew to do something.

"Maybe you expect me to be partners with you so you can get closer to me and steal the Death note when I'm not looking." Andrew snapped.

Steven couldn't help but laugh a little. "That's a stupid plan." he said. "Why would I do that when there's an equal chance of you doing the same to me?"

Andrew glared and Steven could tell he'd stumped him.

"Well…that's why you told me there's another killer out there." Andrew said suddenly. "So that I could get confused and focus my attention on someone else."

"I dunno." Steven sighed. "Such a risky and stupid plan doesn't take my style."

Steven didn't dare glance at him and instead pretended to be interested in an invisible speck of something on his finger, forcing a bored look on his face. But even doing something like this, he could feel the intense anger boiling inside Andrew. Steven had secretly managed to insult and foil Andrew's entire plan.

"Look, I believe that you didn't kill the president and I know that _I_ didn't." Steven started. "Which means there has to be another killer out there. You see? So instead of bickering to each other about what's what, how about we _do_ become partners and trust each other?"

"What?" Andrew blinked, taken aback.

Steven held out his hand for him to shake and smiled a little. "It's obvious from your shock and anger about the president's death that your ideals are similar to mine. You want a perfect world without crime and without evil, right? A utopia?"

Andrew stared at him for a moment in shocked silence before smiling slightly. "Yeah, you read my mind."

_You got that right_. Steven thought wickedly.

"If you still don't trust me and want to kill me then you can go ahead and try to steal my Death Note and all if you must." Steven sighed. "But think about it, if you want to catch this other killer then it would probably be within your best interest to trust me and for me to trust you. How about it?"

Steven could see Andrew's thought process in his eyes. Steven had set it all up perfectly.

"Alright." Andrew smirked and shook his hand. There was a moment of silence where they stood there facing each other, eye to eye. And then they released their grips.

He had given Andrew a false sense of security. He's convinced him that his plan had worked after-all and now Andrew would think that he would have the advantage and would do something sneaky to try and get closer and closer to his Death Note. But in truth, it was Steven who would be encroaching upon Andrew. In a way, he'd taken a step back in order to allow Andrew to move in and think he was getting closer but in reality, Steven would be the true predator. A cat and mouse game between the two boys had started and soon, Steven would catch his prey.

"So…" Andrew said, smirking slightly. "What should we do first, partner?"

174


	13. Friends

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Thirteen

Friends

Andrew sat on the bus glaring out the window thinking deeply about something. It was third period and he found himself fixed on what he and Steven had discussed. He had to think about it so he could understand what Steven's motives were.

Indeed, his plan had worked. He'd convinced Steven into believing that he was not the president's killer, which was of course a lie that he was too dim-witted to realize. Andrew had him in the palm of his hand now.

But the problem was he didn't know where Steven kept his Death Note. He'd said it wasn't at school with him but he could've been lying about that in order to trick him and see what he would do. Could he simply get in his car at lunch, drive down to Steve's with the Hunter, kill Zando, take the Death Note, and kill Steven off as well and just be done with it? No, the risk factor in that plan was too high. He didn't know if anyone was home at the time and he didn't know where Steven was hiding the Death Note. It could be anywhere. And if he killed his family without finding the Death Note or defeating Zando then Steven would immediately kill him without thinking and Andrew would lose. There was too much at play to do such a risky thing like that. Plus, if he was somehow caught breaking into Steven's house then the trust bond Andrew had managed to pull off at break that day would be shattered immediately and he would be found out.

_So that plan's out the window…damn it!_ Andrew glared up at the teacher in the front of the class. If only he could get the Hunter and Zando in the same general area somehow without Steven noticing. And the only time that he would be able to do that would be during school when Steven and his Shinigami were no longer together. But he didn't even know if Zando himself was actually staying at Steven's house. Maybe Steven ordered the Shinigami to hide somewhere with the Death Note while he was away at school. It seemed like something he himself would've done but he wanted the Hunter there at school with Katlynn so that he could watch over her.

_I just have to be patient…_Andrew thought. _Wait until something opens up…just wait until he shows some kind of weakness…and then I'll strike!_

Steven sat on the bus ride home that day talking merrily with Zito and the others on the bus. He'd gotten the bus driver's name as planned and decided that he'd take that day to enjoy with his friends before writing her name in the Death Note. They would be going over to Luke's house to hang out since they haven't done that in a while.

But when Zito turned to talk to Benny, Steven decided to think back on what he'd talked to Andrew about so that he didn't forget any details.

They'd decided that the only truly safe way to speak to each other about Death Note matters would be in person at a secluded place. George Bush had announced that the phone lines were now being traced by the government which meant talking to him after school over the phone was out of the question. And it would look suspicious to their friends if they both started hanging out with each other all the time. So they would have to do it whenever they had the chance to be alone.

Steven frowned and thought more in depth about what they were going to do. He had to continue his performance and make Andrew believe that he was convinced of his lie and that there was a third killer somewhere out there. So the only thing they could do was search the internet and watch out for Heart Attacks that were not expected. This in itself would mean that Andrew would start killing off criminals as well. But in two different sets. With one set, he would kill off criminals and report to Steven about who they were as if to act like they were really on the same team. In another set, he would kill off people as the third killer and not inform Steven of this so that it would distract Steven to follow the trail of the killer. In this way, he would maintain his trust. This was the only way, Steven figured, that Andrew would think of maintaining his bond of partnership with him. And he would use that to the very end. It might even have worked on him if Steven didn't know about it already.

Another thing they had discussed was their Death God issue. Andrew said he'd promised not to let the Hunter follow him when they were alone and would instead make it stay home with his Death Note. This was, of course, a massive lie that Steven had to swallow and pretend to believe. Andrew didn't know that Steven already knew that Andrew was keeping the Death Note with him. He'd seen it in his angry expression right before when Steven had scolded such an idea. And when Steven demanded proof of this, Andrew had taken out a sleeve of notebook paper and said it had been a piece from the Death Note. This was also, more than likely, just a lie. Steven touched it and, predictably, he didn't see the Hunter and had to pretend like he believed that too in order to continue his false sense of security over Andrew.

_How ridiculous…_ He thought, rolling his eyes while Zito laughed at Benny in the seat up front.

So this proved that Andrew had the Death Note with him at school and that the Hunter was still going to follow him or Katlynn around wherever they went. Steven had formulated his own plan during third period after this.

And so thoughts of what he would do were wiped from his mind as he planned out the rest of the day. And suddenly a lurching feeling entered the pit of his gut. He would have to ask Luke and Zito if they wanted to come to the picnic with him. This, of course, only reminded him of Jennie and caused the gut-wrenching sensation that was currently residing within him.

A picnic with Jennie and his friends at Maplewood park tomorrow. Steven couldn't help but have a strange, romantic scene take over his mind of him and Jennie sitting alone on a hill under the setting sun holding hands and talking to each other.

This dream was interrupted abruptly when Zito turned to him and said "So what did you and Andrew talk about today?"

Steven blinked and looked up at him. "Huh? Why?"

"Well, you never go out and talk alone with him." Zito shrugged. "We thought it was kind of weird."

Steven had prepared for this before he'd even done the plan at break.

"Andrew's been having some problems lately and comes to me sometimes asking for help." He said casually. "Don't tell him I told you this or anything, I don't think he wants people knowing, alright? I can trust you with that, right?"

"Oh, okay." Zito nodded. "What kind of problems?"

"Mommy issues." Steven sighed. "Don't worry about it."

"Man, you should be a therapist." Zito smirked and Steven laughed.

"Oh yeah, why's that?"

"Dez, Andrew, you're always talking to them about their problems." Zito sighed and shook his head. "How do you put up with that?"

Steven smirked. "I guess I like helping people."

"Eh, who cares?" Zito muttered, shrugging again and looking away.

Steven stared at him for a few moments in silence before returning to his clouded thoughts about Jennie and smiling out the window. He would be going on a picnic tomorrow…

"A picnic, okay?' Luke said nonchalantly as Steven sat down on the sofa inside Luke's living room.

"Whoa, a picnic, when?" Zito spoke up.

"Tomorrow, after school." Steven repeated, drinking a cup of water slowly. "It's at Maplewood Park and there'll be a bunch of people there so we can all just chill and hang out."

"No lame people?" Luke asked.

"I don't know, maybe." Steven shrugged. For the first time he wondered what Jennie's friends were like. He thought, humorously, of a bunch of Jennie's bouncing around with masks on of random other people. He'd just have to wait and see if this was true, he guessed.

"There's a girl that's going to be there." Steven went on casually.

"Oooh?" Luke said with a smirk.

"Yeah, I'm kind of interested in her." Steven admitted. "Her name's Jennie."

"Jennie?" Luke repeated.

Steven watched him. Luke was also Mormon so there was a chance they knew each other. But when Luke said no more Steven decided to drop the subject there. But Zito wouldn't.

"Does she have nice tits?" he asked bluntly.

Steven frowned at him. "Does it matter to you?"

"Hey, I'm just trying to find out if she's hot, man." Zito said defensively.

"She's cute." Steven muttered.

"And nice." Luke added.

"You know her?" Steven looked at him in shock.

"I used to see her at Church a while back." Luke shrugged.

"Wait…" Zito frowned. "She's mormon?"

A few seconds pause and he burst out laughing. Steven nodded. "Yeah, I know, I somehow find myself attracted to Mormons, alright?"

At that exact moment, Luke's younger sister, Shane, chose the moment to walk by. She gave him an odd stare like she couldn't believe her ears before walking off out of sight. Steven rolled his eyes and leaned back into the couch.

"Anyway, I was thinking we should bring some food or something." He went on. "Like some chips and soda."

"Alright." Luke muttered, looking down with a sigh. Steven got the distinct feeling that there was something on Luke's mind.

And he was right.

"Anyway, yeah…last night, me and Dez…broke up." Luke said.

"What?" Zito exclaimed in shock.

Steven frowned. This piece of news put thoughts of Jennie from his mind. He had a pretty clear idea why. Dez and Luke had been having some issues recently dealing with Luke's dislike toward her parents along with separation issues. But Steven was still curious to know exactly what happened.

"She pretty much doesn't feel the love anymore." Luke sighed when he was finished explaining it to them. "Something about…not feeling good enough for me."

"Ugh. _Deeeez_." Zito moaned, rubbing his eyes.

"That sucks dude." Steven sighed.

"Yeah." Luke looked up. "You should talk to her, Steve."

Normally, Steven was happy to be put up to it but this was a bit different. He had enough on his mind as it was and helping Dez with her emotional problems wasn't something he wanted to put a whole lot of time and effort into thinking about. But Luke and Dez were his friends and if there was something he could do or say to help then he would do it for them. At least, that's what his moral sense of logic told him. But there was still an itch of annoyance inside him that he was determined not to let show on his face.

"Alright." He agreed.

Zito leaned back away from the conversation at hand, obviously showing that he didn't want to get too involved with it.

"I'll think of something, I'm sure." Steven muttered tirelessly when they were done discussing ideas on what he could say to her or ask her.

This was just great. Dez was, in Steven's opinion, beyond much help. Luke had somehow managed to put up with her but he wasn't going to do that. He'd had his experience with depressed, smoking girls and admittedly he felt a little strange helping someone with those problems when not too long ago he'd tried the same with another girl and it resulted in her suicide, showing that all of his advice and help had amounted to nothing. It had made him feel worthless. Of course, he'd never admitted this to Luke or Zito.

They both knew of his first girlfriend, Michelle. She was one of the reasons why he himself used to be depressed back in the day and think badly of everything. She had been so depressed with her life, which truly was awful, that she'd treated Steven horribly while they were going out. He'd tried to help her and talk her through things but she just got worse and he couldn't take it anymore. He'd given up and broke up with her only to find out two weeks later that she'd killed herself.

And it took Steven a while to decide that he'd never let something like that happen again. If he could help someone like that and fix them then he'd truly be able to atone for giving up on Michelle. And it looked like he would be able to do so with Dez.

Thinking of all this gave him a head ache and soon talk about Dez died away and they started playing "Gauntlet" on the Playstation 2.

"AAAARRGHH!!!!" Andrew roared, pounding his fist into his wall once again.

"Something wrong?" Ryoku asked from Andrew's bedroom doorway.

"Shut up." Andrew muttered coldly, glaring down at his carpet.

The Hunter remained standing, watching as Andrew paced his room between a pile of clothes and his bed. He'd just gotten done having an argument over the phone with his mom.

"Am I worthless?" Andrew muttered after five minutes of silence where he sat on his bed. He looked up at his Shinigami with a blank expression.

"Excuse me?" Ryoku blinked.

"My mom…" Andrew sighed. "Every time I talk to her…everything she says…she makes me feel like I just don't matter…"

Ryoku stared down at him in silence as Andrew muttered under his breath curses toward his mom.

"I don't think anyone is worthless." Ryoku said. "I feel as though everyone has some amount of worth in this universe, whether they be human or Shinigami."

"And why do you think something like that?" Andrew muttered in spite of himself.

"Even someone who dies leaves a trace of themselves for someone else. Nobody dies unnoticed and if they do then they are remembered, correct?" Ryoku said, remaining still in the doorway like a statue staring down at Andrew with wide eyes. "This in itself provides worth. If you can leave a trace of yourself in someone's memory, beliefs, or opinions then that can change the course of history. For example, if you were to die right now then Katlynn would miss you; your mom would remember you and possibly even regret calling you worthless. Your friends at school will also remember you. Therefore you will have provided some amount of worth to this world, whether it is small or great."

"That's not good enough." Andrew grunted under his breath. "I want to be worth something great in life!"

"Unfortunately…" Ryoku sighed. "Things like that are for you and only you to decide. There are those who are misfortunate enough not to have that luxury and are forced to live with what they are given. But you, Andrew…I believe you still have the ability to be worth something if you make the right decisions."

Andrew glared up at the Hunter and the Hunter stared down calmly at Andrew. Both of them in complete silence.

"You're right." Andrew said.

"Just be patient." Ryoku said. "You don't have to do everything. And don't let what your mom tells you affect you whole heartedly. If anything, let it fuel you to prove yourself to her and others that you _are_ worth something."

"I don't think you've ever been this…nice to me." Andrew smirked and signs of his anger started to fade. "What's gotten into you?"

"I don't have a personality, Andrew." Ryoku said bluntly. "I only speak of what I think is logical to say. I do not have sympathy for you, if that's what you've been thinking. Nor do I feel as though I have any desire to help you whatsoever. All I have in my mind are opinions and a goal."

"A goal to catch Zando?" Andrew narrowed his eyes.

"Yes…" Ryoku muttered.

"You know, I need you to kill him if my plans are to work." Andrew said quietly.

"Yes, I know of this already." Ryoku responded. "And you also know that it is impossible for me to kill him unless I am forced to. It is purely my job to bring him back."

"And if you do that, does Steven's Death Note stay here?" Andrew asked.

"No, once a Death Note is in the hands of a human then the Shinigami is responsible for watching over that Death Note until death. If I capture Zando, the Death Note Steven owns comes with me. If I kill Zando, the Death Note will remain on earth with Steven. Do you see now?"

"Yeah." Andrew muttered. "So I pretty much have to set up a situation where you're forced to kill Zando, then?"

"Yes." Ryoku. "Otherwise I will just capture him."

"Didn't you tell me earlier that Zando had been conspiring to do something bad and that's why you're hunting him?" Andrew snapped, looking angered again. "Why can't you just kill him so he doesn't just escape your clutches, _again_, and start this all over again?"

At this, Ryoku frowned and looked away at the wall. Andrew didn't notice this right away but the Hunter was actually thinking of a way to possibly avoid this question.

"What is it that Zando did so wrong, anyway?" Andrew asked.

Ryoku looked back at Andrew, eyes wide as if deciding on something.

"That…is a long story."

_**Many years back in the Realm of the Shinigami…**_

"Ryoku!!!"

The blonde haired Shinigami looked up from his book held between his clawed fingers. Another Shinigami was flying toward him from across the canyon grinning wildly about something. He had short, black, messy hair and was relatively small compared to most other Shinigami their age. Then again, they were only just children.

"What is it, Zando?" Ryoku sighed, snapping his book shut.

"They're handing out Death Notes to the junior level Shinigami today." Zando exclaimed with excitement, doing a loop in the air and landing on one of the black, bony spikes sticking out of the ground where Ryoku was sitting. "Aren't you excited?"

"Not particularly." Ryoku muttered with a yawn.

"You're just upset because you're afraid." Zando taunted with a grin. "Everyone in your blood-line tends to fall in love with humans and end up sacrificing themselves for them, right? I'm sure that won't happen to you?"

"And what makes you say that?" Ryoku muttered with a frown.

"Because you're you! Duh!" Zando said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Ryoku, the genius Shinigami of our age, fall in love with a human? As if, right?" And he laughed.

Ryoku smirked. "You're right. They're disgusting creatures, humans."

"Really?" Zando blinked. "How do you know?"

"This book depicts them." Ryoku said, showing his friend what was in his hands. He opened it to the first page where it showed a picture of a white, human body bent in an odd angle. "They're filled with things called organs, bones, and muscles. It's very odd but I think I have their anatomy down perfectly. They're basically bugs with intellect and a different skeletal structure."

"Whoa, that's cool." Zando said but Ryoku got the feeling that Zando really didn't care what a human was made out of. "C'mon, let's go get our notebooks!"

"Why are you so excited?" Ryoku asked as they both flew off into the dark sky.

"Because I've always wanted one." Zando exclaimed happily.

"Oh, great…" Ryoku muttered, rolling his eyes.

"What?"

"You're not going to go off on another long, boring speech about how you want to change the world, are you?" Ryoku asked.

"What? I don't do that!" Zando said defensively.

"Only every time a Death Note is mentioned, you do." Ryoku sighed.

Ever since he knew him, Zando had always been a dreamer. Ryoku at first found it interesting that a Shinigami would want to change the world but doing something like that with a Death Note was forbidden. And he had to remind Zando of it every time he got to excited.

"How do you plan on changing the world with a Death Note anyway?" Ryoku asked, uninterestedly as they flew over a pit full of old, gambling Shinigami.

"Easy." Zando grinned. "I'm going to murder every bad person on earth until good people realize that I'm doing it and they'll stop being bad forever. I'll create a utopia!"

Ryoku stared at him with a kind of blunt expression as Zando did another loop in the air around him.

"Killing every single bad person in the world will take a long time, Zando. Are you sure you have the patience?" Ryoku asked.

"Well, since I will be killing them, their life force will become apart of mine so time doesn't matter." Zando said. "And of course I have the patience! I've been wanting to do this since I was little!"

This was true. Zando's only known relative was the old, senile Shinigami that lived on his own down by "The Rocks", which was a small area away from civilization in the Human world. He had been banished from the Shinigami world for his ridiculous ideas and from the looks of it; Zando was heading down the same path. But Zando was his friend and he would encourage him if that was what was going to be needed.

"Well, the plan doesn't sound good… But I'll be there to help you if you need it." Ryoku told him and for the first time he smiled.

"Thanks. I'll remember that." Zando laughed.

And so the two boys arrived at a pillar surrounded by a cluster of other Shinigami their age all floating in mid air and listening. There was a Death God standing on top of the old, cracked pillar looking down at them all and speaking.

"And so I hereby grant you each one, and one only, Death Note for yours to use and keep until it is filled. There is a list of rules by the Dellenima that you can go and check if you have further questions. Do not break these rules or you will lose your privilege as a Shinigami and be sent to the Zabaloft." The Death God said before turning and disappeared from view without another word.

Ryoku and Zando wondered where their Death Notes were when one shouted "Hey look!" and they all looked down. On the floor was a huge pile of little, black notebooks that had not been there a second before.

"Wow, its magic." Zando said stupidly.

Everyone landed on the ground and picked up a Death Note. Ryoku put his away in his belt straight away while Zando flipped through the pages with excitement. "This is so awesome!" He shouted merrily.

"You know, your attitude isn't much of that for a Shinigami, young one." said the old Death God standing behind them wearing a long, brown cloak. He had a toad-like appearance with big, bulging eyes and looked at them as if he wanted to eat them.

"Shut up, Gokainkai." Ryoku muttered coldly.

"Shouldn't talk bad to elders. Bad mistake, yes." The toad-like Shinigami responded, spinning his head around and giving them both a bizarre glare.

Zando and Ryoku ignored him and flew off into the dark sky. The Shinigami realm was sure a depressing one. Fights and arguments were almost pointless and a lot of Death Gods acted similar to one another. They either gambled their boredom away or went off insulting each other to see who was better at it. Gokainkai was already mouthing off on somebody else as they were leaving.

"I can't blame you for wanting to change the world." Ryoku sighed as they flew out of ear shot from below. "The Gods here are pathetic."

"Huh? I don't care about whatever happens here." Zando said making his friend look up at him in surprise. "Sorry, when I said I wanted to change the world, I meant the Human world only. Whatever happens here I could really care less about."

"Why? You live here." Ryoku frowned.

"Only for right now." Zando shrugged. "The Human world is so much better looking. Cleaner, brighter, and funner. This place is gloomy, dark, boring and filled with nothing but arguing jerks."

Ryoku couldn't help but look worried. A Shinigami was supposed to stay in the Shinigami world unless ordered by the Death King to go into the human world or if they have personal business to take care of. And he supposed that Zando's dreams for the future could be considered personal business but now that Ryoku thought about it, if he really did go down and live in the human world forever and kill off all the criminals, then the life spans of the Shinigami world would shorten severely because most of the people they wrote in their Death Notes were people who would die of murders or other bad deeds done by humans. But without bad things happening in the world then they would be forced to kill using only Natural causes or accidents and that would make the world for the Shinigami even more boring and Ryoku really did not want to live in such a place when that happened.

But Zando just admitted that he wouldn't care. As long as he could achieve his goal, create and utopia, and make everything better then nothing else mattered to him. Ryoku flew silently behind him as he watched his friend look down at his first Death Note.

What should Ryoku do? Should he report his friend to the Death God King and tell him everything that Zando was planning that could threaten the very existence of Death Gods in the future?

But Zando was his friend. When Ryoku was little he never had someone to talk to. No Family. No friends. He was a loner and sometimes wished he could stay that way. He much preferred to watch people interact and observe their actions and learn from it. A Social learner, not a Social worker. That was his motto. But Zando changed all that. When they first met it had been about thirty or so years back and Zando was being picked on. Ryoku watched and observed as always and did nothing to help and when Zando was done being beaten up, he walked over to him, sat down next to him and said "Can I be a loner too?"

Ryoku had not expected such a strange action from someone who'd just gotten beaten up. A Shinigami couldn't kill another Shinigami but they could certainly hurt each other to the point that Death seemed almost like a sweet release. And Ryoku had seen this kid get pummeled to that point for days on end and yet when Ryoku asked his name, Zando had given him a grin and replied "I didn't think you were able to talk."

Ever since then Zando had followed him around, saying that he too wanted to be a loner and learn how to be cool-looking like Ryoku. Ryoku scolded him for this, saying that he wasn't trying to look cool he just didn't want to be social with anyone but Zando didn't understand even after the hundredth time of explaining to him.

And yet somehow, Zando had changed Ryoku. He was still the silent, observant one but Zando was the only Shinigami who Ryoku felt comfortable with talking about anything to. It was a strange feeling, and after a lot of thought about it, Ryoku decided that he considered Zando his friend. His only friend. And just with that, Ryoku felt a little satisfaction that he wouldn't have to be lonely anymore…

Did he dare ruin that by telling the Death King about Zando's plans? It was probably the right thing to do, after-all. To help preserve the race and code of the Shinigami…?

Zando and Ryoku sat by a fire in the middle of a clearing of rocks, bones, and spikes sticking up from all around them. It was some time later and they were both much older and had grown into their full formed body structures now which usually took around a hundred years for a Shinigami to complete. Both of them had their Death Notes hanging in straps around their belts and were staring into the fire in silence.

"Nights have grown quieter over the years." Ryoku muttered finally.

"You noticed too?" Zando said with a grin.

"Of course…" Ryoku sighed. "The arguments between all the Shinigami stopped a long time ago so now all that's left is gambling…Everything seems so forbidden. Even a simple fight will cause you to have the rest of your life span spent in the Zabaloft."

Zando's eyes narrowed with distaste. "I hope I never have to go there…"

Ryoku glanced up at his friend from across the fire and said nothing in return.

Both remained quiet for another couple of minutes, watching the flames flicker smaller and smaller in the pit between them.

"Why would you ever have to worry about going there?" Ryoku asked finally.

"Because…" Zando sighed. "I dunno…I've been getting funny stares from the other Death Gods lately. It's almost as if they know something about me and think I'm disgusting or something. I don't like it."

"Have you been bragging about your ideas to anyone else besides me lately?" Ryoku asked, closing his eyes and interlocking his claw-like fingers together.

"No, you're the only one who knows about that." Zando sighed.

Ryoku continued to stare into the dying fire with a blank expression. "Yeah, you're right."

"I don't get it." Zando went on. "What is so wrong about wanting to make the world a better place for humans?"

"I wouldn't say…it's wrong." Ryoku said. "More like abnormal for a Death God."

"Why's it abnormal, though? It's not fair." Zando huffed.

"A lot of things aren't fair, Zando." Ryoku sighed as the flames grew smaller and smaller. "A Shinigami kill humans because that is what we're here for. We're not here to make the humans realize that they should live in a utopia. That is for humans and humans alone to decide for. Only humans can make the human world a better place. We Shinigami have no say in the matter and never have had a say in the matter. We simply do our jobs and remain content with it."

"But…I don't want to be content with it." Zando muttered with a frown. "A human can only change the human world…that's probably true…"

Ryoku paid no attention to the wild look that Zando got in his eye. He was staring, transfixed into the flames that were slowing descending into the pit like a wounded animal crying out for any chance of life.

"What would you do after the utopia?" Ryoku asked.

"Die happily." Zando grinned. "I would like to know that I ended my life achieving something great. That's what I want."

Ryoku frowned, almost sorrowfully and looked up at his friend as the flames finally died away. "I'm sorry, my friend."

"Huh?" Zando blinked. "What do you mean, sorry?"

Ryoku stood up from his seat. "The Death King is generous…When I told him about your plans he gave me a rank that not very many Shinigami are blessed with."

"What?" Zando looked up at Ryoku with a confused look. As if he didn't understand what his friend was saying.

"When I got this rank…" Ryoku went on. "I received something else." And from underneath the tattered sleeves of his robes shot two, long, wrist blades attached to gauntlets around each of his forearms. "These blades have the ability to injure, and even kill another Shinigami." Ryoku watched as the look of confusion on Zando's face suddenly turned to a look of horror.

"What are you saying, Ryoku?" Zando asked.

"I'm a Hunter." Ryoku muttered. "And you are my target…I have to bring you to the Zabaloft where the Judges of Fate will decide your sentence for what you are planning to do."

"What are you doing?" Zando stood up and backed away against one of the spikes behind him. "You are joking, right? This is just a joke, right? Right?! We're friends! Ryoku!"

Ryoku stared at Zando from across the clearing with the blades out by his side for a few seconds and briefly he wondered if what he was doing was what he really wanted. But it was too late. He had to do this.

"I brought you here to this secluded place because this was where we always used to go to hide when we were younger…" Ryoku explained quietly. "I wanted you…to feel at home again. To have one last happy memory…before I took it all away."

"You can't be serious, Ryoku." Zando muttered and this time he stepped forward. "You were the only one who understood me. You actually listened to me! You can't be doing this to be. You're my friend!"

Ryoku watched as Zando continued to approach him cautiously. Was he stupid? Did he actually think he'd be able to convince Ryoku not to turn him in? But if it wasn't so difficult, then why was he finding it so hard to raise his blades?

"You're my only friend too, Ryoku." Zando muttered. "Please…don't do this…please…"

Zando was mere feet in front of him now. What did he do? Ryoku stood there as sturdy as a tree but his insides were running wild. This was the moment he'd been imagining for the past few years. The moment he struck down his friend and turned him in. He had to do it. It was for the good of the Shinigami world. Even if it was a disgusting place that didn't deserve to go on, it was his duty as a Death God, as a Hunter, to bring down those who threatened it.

"I'm sorry, Zando." Ryoku said again only this time he glared up at him. "I already told you…I am a Hunter. And you are my target. Our friendship means nothing."

Blood was in the air. Zando stepped back, horrified and holding the left side of his face as if unable to believe that his friend had seriously just attacked him. Ryoku hadn't missed. He'd sent one of his blades up and cut deeply enough to make a scar on Zando's left eye that would remain there forever. And for the first time in a long time, Zando saw his own black blood seeping between his fingers and he gasped in horror. His friend was serious. He'd attacked him.

And just like that. Their bond was broken. Zando and Ryoku were no longer friends. They were a Target and a Hunter and everything that happened between them over the past century was left for nothing.

Zando took off into the sky with his wings outstretched from his shoulders, and he flew as fast as he possibly could to get away. Ryoku was right behind him; his arms outstretched with the blades out by his side, waiting to strike again. Ryoku expected Zando to flee. And soon, Ryoku felt his newfound reflexes in his wings allow him to speed up much quicker than he'd ever done before. Zando didn't even have time to look back, the Hunter was on top of him and they were plummeting down toward a large pit full of gambling Shinigami.

"What's that?" Death Gods asked from down bellow. "A shooting star?"

"There are no stars here, idiot."

"They look like two fighters."

"Fighting?!"

"I haven't seen a fight in ages!!!"

"Look! That one has blades!"

"What is going on?"

"Who are they!?"

"Who cares? Let's watch!!"

The Hunter and Zando spiraled down into the ground but Zando had somehow tricked Ryoku and pulled out of the dive just in time. So Zando had let himself get caught after-all. He was good at running away, Ryoku admitted to himself as he took off from the ground to chase Zando again.

But Zando had a head start this time and Ryoku immediately saw where he was heading. The Human world portal.

_Great…_ Ryoku instead aimed for the portal down below rather then directly trying to catch up with his target.

And when he got there he saw Zando land down twenty yards away and half sprint, half glide toward the portal which was down a spiraling black staircase in the ground. Ryoku flew toward it as well, making it just in time to stand in between Zando and the bright light half-way down the stairs.

"This is as far as you go, Zando." Ryoku said.

Zando frowned and Ryoku saw for the first time his old friend have a look of anger on his face.

"I know we're not friends anymore." Zando said. "But there was a time when we were. And I remember the day…Right before we got our Death Notes you said you would be there to help me whenever I needed it."

Ryoku felt a jolt inside him as Zando said this.

"Please." Zando said. "As a criminal's last wish of an old friend…let me pass for now…And we can settle this another time?"

The Hunter remained where he was in silence. He too, remembered that day. Saying something like that then, he was so naïve…but he'd meant it. Zando had been his friend and he'd promised to help him one day, even if it was only once…

Ryoku shifted his feet and stood sideways, allowing room for Zando to pass. They both stood there for a few moments, Zando looking dumbfounded and Ryoku giving him the same, blank expression that he'd always had on his face.

"Get going before I change my mind." Ryoku muttered.

Zando nodded and walked down the steps. And as he passed Ryoku, he muttered "Thank you…" Under his breath.

"When we meet again." Ryoku said calmly. "I will be your enemy and you will be mine. So don't expect me to do something like this for you again."

"I won't." Zando promised.

This was the goodbye between them. Zando stepped into the light and Ryoku climbed back up into the darkness, not knowing that they'd soon see each other again.

"What is it that Zando did so wrong, anyway?" Andrew asked.

Ryoku gave him a long stare before saying "That…is a long story."

"Well all you do is tell me about human emotions and all that bullshit. It'd be nice to know a little bit about you since you're living with me." Andrew frowned. "Mind sharing?"

Ryoku gave him a blank stare from behind his mask and Andrew stared back expectedly.

"I am a Hunter and he is my target." Ryoku said. "That is all that matters."

199


	14. Change

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Fourteen

Change

Zando lifted his head at the sound of a door opening nearby. He had to wait, just like Steven had ordered, for the sound. And sure enough he heard the voice of Steven say "Come on out." from above.

The Shinigami floated straight on up through the floorboards of the hidden hatch that was underneath a pile of Steven's stray laundry in his bedroom. Steven's Death Note was in his hands.

"Took you long enough." Zando muttered.

"I went over to Luke's for a while." Steven said, setting his backpack down on the floor and sitting down on his bed to take his socks off. "Sorry. I know it's probably horrible for you to stay down there all day."

"It really is." Zando frowned. "When are you going to end this so I can come out?"

"It might take a little while." Steven explained. "But at the same time, I might've figured out a way to finish it all tomorrow."

"Really?" Zando perked up. Steven had told Zando that Andrew might risk coming and breaking into his house while Steven was away in order to search for the Death Note and kill Zando with his Hunter. But Andrew didn't know about the hidden hatch underneath his bedroom floor. So Zando had to hide down there for the whole day carrying Steven's Death Note.

"How do you think you'll end this tomorrow?" Zando asked, eager not to have an excuse to spend seven hours down a dark, cob-webbed hatch every day.

"Well, I've done a lot of thinking." Steven began, setting his glasses down next to him and rubbing his eyes. "Basically, Andrew is forced, as my partner—"

"Wait a second, you're partners now?" Zando interrupted.

"Yeah, we made a deal to work together." Steven said bluntly.

"How did that happen?"

"He denied killing the president and pretended to think that I was the killer but I could tell he was lying." Steven explained. "So I took advantage of that by defending myself and by doing exactly what he secretly wanted, to be partners. And I told him that I was going to be trying to make him trust me while we searched for a third killer, allowing him to get close to me so I can prepare a trap for him."

Steven wondered why he bothered. Zando nodded as if he understood but Steven could tell by the silence after his words that the Death God hadn't understood completely.

"Anyway. That trap might be able to be set off tomorrow." Steven smirked.

"How?"

"The picnic." Steven said simply.

Zando blinked. "The picnic?"

"Yeah. The one that I'm going to with Jennie and my friends tomorrow."

"How is that going to be the chance for you to set a trap?" Zando asked, still not getting it.

"Well, with a bit of acting and well placed movements, I think I might be able to set Andrew up where he'll be alone and I can take him out myself." Steven said. "I won't ruin the fun by telling you everything, though. But I can tell you that you'll be apart of the plan. A big part."

Something about Steven's tone told Zando that he would be putting his life in danger, again. Twice already he'd encountered the Hunter within a week and he wasn't looking forward to seeing Ryoku again.

Steven, however, had a gleam in his eye that showed he was thinking deeply about something. Zando watched him in silence for a little while when suddenly the phone went off and they both looked at it. The phone was sitting on the corner of Steven's bed. He picked it up on the second ring and answered.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Hi…" Said a voice on the other line. A girl's voice.

"Dez?" Steven said, unsurely.

"Yeah. Is this Steve?" She sniffed. It sounded like she'd just been crying.

"Yeah." Steven said, deciding to start the conversation casually. "What's up?"

A sigh. "Nothing."

"Who's Dez?" Zando asked dumbly but Steven ignored him.

"What's wrong?" Steven asked, deciding to skip the boring talk.

Another sigh. "It's…nothing."

"My intuition on women tells me there's something bothering you." Steven said smoothly. "Don't think I can't hear you sighing and sniffing."

Dez coughed out a laugh as Steven lied down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, waiting for a better response.

"Yeah." She said finally.

"Yeah what?"

"I dunno…"

Steven rolled his eyes. "Is there a specific reason you called?"

Dez sniffed again. "Yeah…well…Did Luke tell you?"

"Yeah…He did." And then Steven waited. He wanted Dez to talk first. To say something. It was a different approach to how he usually handled her but he wasn't feeling up to trying too hard that afternoon.

But when Dez continued sniff and cry, Steven said "Why are you crying?"

"I've been crying all day…" Dez muttered.

"Have your parents counseled you at all?" Steven asked but he felt like he already knew the answer.

"No. I haven't told them yet…"

Predictable.

For the next hour, Steven stayed on the phone with her. He managed to get out of her all the basic reasons for why she dumped him and at the end of the hour she had stopped crying and they were talking about other things. Steven found that a good way to make Dez less sad and a bit more reasonable was not lay down too much logic on her at one time and bring up other, more unimportant topics that may even make her laugh in order to get her into a better state of mind. Eventually, however, he managed to sneak the conversation into a topic about a boy named Danny.

Danny had been an ex-boyfriend of Dez's from a while back. He'd liked her for a while but she refused to believe that he did until very recently. And after hearing about some of the things he did, Steven already had a pretty safe basis of judgment for this kid. Within a week, maybe two, Dez would be going out with Danny and, if he didn't miss his guess, they'd probably engage in _some_ sort of sexual action.

"Do you think you're going to end up dating Danny?" Steven asked.

"I dunno." Dez mumbled. "Maybe."

"Do you feel like you might be having some sort of attraction to him right now?" Steven asked. "And if so, do you think that might've been a part of the reason why you _really_ broke up with Luke?"

"Maybe." Dez muttered.

She wasn't denying it. This meant that this kind of thinking had already crossed her mind. Dez liked Danny to some extent. Already, Steven could imagine him taking advantage of her now that she was out of Luke's grasp. But Luke had tried to explain to her that stuff like this would happen if they broke up and as far as Steven knew, she thought that it was ridiculous that Danny would do such a thing. In a way, she was a lot like Catheryne Baker. Trusting people to the point where it is unneeded and even unhealthy for them.

Steven sighed. He was tired of thinking of such things. He had more important matters to attend to in his head and being concerned about Dez wasn't one of them. Somehow he found himself thinking, almost savagely, of hanging up the phone with a cold voice so he could send a message to Dez that he wanted nothing more to do with her but such a thing was heartless and not something Steven would just do out of the blue like that. And Dez was technically still his friend that he owed to help.

"Hey, Dez. I've gotta go, mkay?" He said, deciding to try and get away without sounding like he actually wanted to get away. "My mom's making me do chores now."

"Oh, okay." Dez muttered, sounding a little disheartened.

Steven felt the savage lust turn to shame and sympathy. "Hey, if you ever need to talk you can call me whenever. I'll be there for you."

This seemed to fill Dez's mood a bit as she said "Okay."

Steven felt a little ashamed as they said their goodbyes and hung up the phone. He didn't want to feel like he wanted to get away from his friends but after being on the phone for an hour with Dez he couldn't help but wonder if being friends with Luke, Zito and Dez was all just going to be a distraction for him. But he couldn't cut them off. He had to just keep living normally and acting normally until the time came where he might be able to use his friends to his advantage. He could work his way out of any problem if he put his mind to it, he was confident about that.

"Zando…" Steven muttered and the Shinigami looked up. "Am I…heartless?"

"Heartless? No." Zando said, tilting his head a bit. "…Just demented."

Steven scoffed. "Yeah, maybe."

"Why do you ask?"

"I feel like by having friends, it's a double edged sword when using the Death Note. You can either use them or have them be used against you. In the end that's what it's going to come down to. I might even be forced to kill Luke or Zito…" Steven's eyes narrowed.

"And you're not sure if you're up to the task?" Zando asked.

"No. That's just it…" Steven looked up with a frown. "I _am_ up to the task. If I am forced to take drastic measures to secure my safety then I will kill them…That's why I'm asking you if I'm heartless for thinking such things…"

Zando frowned. Steven had no idea… For the first time, Zando saw a hint of Ryoku inside of him. Both of them willing to discard their "friends" in order to secure their own safety. Only, Ryoku hadn't hunted him because he was defending himself, but rather defending the order of things.

"I think…betraying your friends is unforgivable…However…." Zando smiled. "If you do it for the greater good, then it isn't heartless."

Steven eyed the Shinigami in silence. "Greater Good…yeah, you're right about that much. If they get in my way then they're getting in the way of the greater good that I'm trying to achieve."

Zando nodded with a wide grin. Finally he was right about something that Steven agreed with.

"Nobody is truly heartless, I suppose." Steven sighed. "Anyway, I'm going to go get some more names and faces from the internet." And he stood from his bed, leaving the Shinigami alone on the bedroom floor.

Steven sat down at his desk in second period, setting his backpack on the floor by his feet and looking up to see Jennie go walking by him without a word. It was the next day and he'd been looking forward to seeing her face ever since last night when he'd had a dream about her…

He felt the desire to say "Hi" but decided against it and took out a piece of paper to draw on instead. He would have plenty of time to talk to her at the picnic today. That alone was enough to make him content for the day.

But at the end of the period, Jennie approached him as he was closing his backpack.

"There's been a change in the plan." She said.

"What?" Steven looked up and forced his face to remain calm, as if this news didn't deeply disturb him but truthfully it burned a hole of annoyance in his head.

"I have too much to do for the next couple of weeks, my brother is going to Iraq and stuff and we're preparing for him to leave." Jennie explained. Steven understood. It reminded him of how Luke's brother was going to Korea on his church mission. But he still couldn't help but feel a little annoyed by this news. Now he would have to tell Luke and Zito that the picnic was off.

"I see." Steven said. "Well, wish him my best."

"Hey, I'm not done yet." Jennie smiled. "We're still going to have the picnic, just not for a while."

"Okay." Steven smiled. "It's just a picnic, not a terribly big deal or anything."

Jennie's face fell and he wished immediately that he hadn't said this.

"You don't want to come?" She asked.

"No, I do. It's just…" Steven thought quickly. "I don't want you to feel obligated to make me come or anything just because of that wooden project thing last week."

"That's not why I want you to come." Jennie said and Steven was a little taken aback by this answer.

"Why then?" He asked.

"Because we're friends, right?" Jennie smiled again and Steven felt a little relieved.

"Really? I had no idea." Steven joked and she smiled a little wider.

They talked their way out of the room and outside where they split paths and Steven went into the lunch room feeling both happy and moody at the same time. So Jennie considered them official friends now and not just acquaintances. That was good. At least he wouldn't have to worry about awkwardness between them anymore.

When Steven was done ordering his pizza from the line and sat down at their table by Jacob and Zito, he noticed Andrew and Katlynn approach them just like yesterday. Steven expected something like this to happen. Andrew believed that Steven believed him when he'd handed him a piece of notebook paper to touch and tell him it was a Death Note paper. Since the paper had probably been a fake, and since Steven could not see the Hunter behind either of them, it meant that Andrew would be telling him that from now on he would be keeping his Death Note at home along with his hunter. This was, of course, a lie. It also furthered his belief that the Hunter was probably following Katlynn and not Andrew. Katlynn had the Death God eyes making her valuable to Andrew in their little game. And it was also probable that Andrew didn't trust Katlynn's acting abilities completely and would want the Hunter to watch over her in order to keep and eye on her and tell her what to say just in case.

So Steven played his part and gave Andrew an alarmed look at first before shaking it off. Andrew, however, said "Steve, want to go talk about that _thing_ I told you yesterday?"

"Um, sure." Steven said, giving Zito a sly eye while he picked up his pizza and backpack. Zito winked, understanding, while Andrew looked between the two of them, obviously confused.

"You didn't tell him, did you?" Andrew asked immediately as they walked outside.

"Of course not." Steven said, nonchalantly taking a bite out of his food.

"Then what was with that look you gave him?"

"He was wondering why we were talking outside. I had to tell him something." Steven shrugged. "Don't worry, it was a lie. I told him you wanted advice on some issues."

Andrew frowned, looking like he didn't like this plan but decided to push it off without another word on the matter. Instead he said "You're probably wondering why Ryoku isn't with me."

"Ryoku?" Steven repeated.

"The Hunter Shinigami."

"Oh, that's his name, is it?"

"Yeah. I decided to keep him at home with the Death Note just to be safe." Andrew sighed.

Just as he'd predicted. It wasn't until that moment that Steven felt a surge of anger. His plan to trap Andrew into his death today would no longer work since there wasn't going to be a picnic with Jennie anymore. He forced the rage not to appear on his face and looked at him with a small frown.

"You don't trust me, do you?" He asked, remembering the lines in his head.

"Not completely." Andrew said.

"That's why you're keeping your Death Note at home…" Steven shook his head sadly. "Well then, have there been any deaths that neither of us wrote in our Death Notes?"

"Yes. Thirty." Andrew said.

Steven blinked and took a step back in surprise. "Thirty? Are you serious?"

"Yeah." Andrew pulled off a look of morose that would have convinced him if he didn't already know the truth. "It seems like this other "Kira" is killing off mass amounts of criminals, and some of them aren't even ones that have committed any truly bad sins and were only scheduled to stay in prison for a few more months." He went on.

Steven saw right through Andrew's plan. By killing so many people who weren't even on Death Row was a ploy to try and make Steven's anger increase against the third Kira. Luckily he didn't _have_ to play that part.

"Well that's disappointing." Steven sighed. "I wasn't going to start doing that until all criminals who were on death row were dead. But looks like this guy's doing that for us."

"Should we do the same in order to keep up the appearance that Kira is getting more dangerous?" Andrew asked and Steven saw a glint in his eye.

"Unfortunately, yes." Steven sighed. "If we don't then someone else might end up noticing that there are two different styles of deaths taking place and they'll think that there is more than one Kira at play. We don't want that. We want the world to think there is only ONE Kira."

"I see what you're saying." Andrew nodded but Steven knew he'd already thought of this.

"Anyway…" Steven sighed. "What should we do now?" He asked this because he wanted to see what Andrew's response would be, obviously, so he could get a better idea on what Andrew might be planning.

"I dunno." Andrew shrugged.

"We can't keep meeting like this every day during break. It was probably a mistake to do it again today." Steven sighed, glaring at the door as if it was its fault.

"How do we do that?" Andrew asked.

"It's obvious we can't meet each other after school. You still don't trust me which means you don't want me coming over, right?" Steven looked at him curiously out of the corner of his eye.

"How about I come over to your house then?" Andrew asked.

Steven chuckled. "Now that I think about…why should I trust you if you can't trust me still?"

"I suppose you can't." Andrew's face fell into a frown. Steven could have said yes and have him come over but in doing that, Andrew would simply bring Ryoku the Hunter with him and achieve his goal. And if Steven had done so then Andrew would think that he didn't trust him. But by saying "Now that I think about it" it made it sound like Steven hadn't actually considered not trusting Andrew until that moment. Andrew must be feeling mighty stupid for putting this on himself but he truly had no idea what kind of mind game Steven had him trapped in.

209


	15. World

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Fifteen

World

"Reports nationwide state that the death toll in America has reached a breaking point." said the Asian Woman reporter. "With the Death of President Bush, Dick Cheney has taken up office temporarily until this summer at the 2008 presidential elections. George W. Bush's funeral will be held in his hometown in Texas with his family, friends and supporters from across—"

The television channel switched to show a black man and a white woman standing behind a counter with a picture above them of a barbed fence and the words "Jail Break" above it.

"The states of Massachusetts, Wyoming, Texas, and Pennsylvania are all reporting recent break outs in the prison camps. They believe that they're escaping before the infamous "Kira" has a chance to kill them. As you know, Kira is only a—" The black man's voice was cut short when the channel switched again to a different news station showing a scale and bar graph.

"As you can see, the death tolls rumored to be caused by "Kira" in prisons alone have increased dramatically over the past week. Two weeks ago the number of criminals dying in prison was ranged to be 20 to 40 in a day across the nation, and they were all criminals on death row. In the past week, the death tolls nationwide have ranged between 80 and 130 per day, and this included criminals who were scheduled to be released from jail after a certain amount of years. It's clear that Kira has been getting vicious, maybe even impatient with—"

"I'm surprised by what they're showing on T.V. these days." Andrew said.

"I'm not." Steven muttered, glaring at the television screen darkly.

"You're not?"

"Of course the media would cover up the true amount of deaths taking place." Steven explained. "In truth, there are about 300 deaths a day now thanks to this _"third"_ Kira."

Andrew nodded, laughing inside his head. He couldn't help but feel a little overjoyed that his plan to fool Steven into thinking that there was a third Kira out there was a crowning achievement for him.

They were sitting in the living room at Andrew's house. Nobody else was there with them, not even Ryoku the hunter. Katlynn had most of the Death Note with her at her house and Ryoku was following her. He didn't want Steven finding it and taking it. He'd never fully trust him. And visa versa. Andrew was fine with this working out for now, though, until he thought of something better.

And of course, Steven hadn't brought his Death Note either. Instead, they each had one sheet from their Death Notes in their hand. This worked because if Andrew tried to kill Steven then Zando would take the Death Note at Steven's house and fly off and if Steven tried to kill Andrew, then Ryoku would fly off with his Death Note at Katlynn's house. Those were the orders given. And they were both aware of this.

So in the meantime, they were safe in each other's company. For the past week, they'd been secretly getting together during school hours to talk but doing this wasn't very affective. The only things they could say to each other was the amount of people they would be killing that day and reporting how many deaths they've heard of from The 3rd Kira.

So today was the first meeting that took place at Andrew's house. Steven was surprised to find how well it worked out. Andrew's mom was never around. They had a television with all the news programs and Andrew had managed to hack a satellite dish onto the top of his house to broadcast other stations across the rest of America. Andrew reminded Steven of Zito's dad to some extent. And even though he hated him, he couldn't help but feel a little impressed with his knowledge of electronics.

Andrew had also hooked up his computer with a device that allowed him to hack into police reports in all the local areas of Washington State. Another useful device to use. Apparently the police would be starting a secret investigation with the FBI to start searching for the criminal called "Kira". This deeply troubled Steven. How did they know that the killer lived in Washington?

But his troubles were relieved when Andrew showed similar reports in some of the other states as well. They were all the states with the biggest amount of deaths. The police thought that the more deaths there were, the higher the chance was that Kira lived there. The same went with the states having the least amount of death tolls. In total, 21 of the 50 states were being investigated, including Hawaii and Alaska.

"Are you worried about the President's funeral?" Andrew asked.

"Not really." Steven shrugged. "I'm willing to bet that the 3rd Kira is going to kill off someone during the ceremony. As a way to get more publicity, you know? As if we need anymore. All the news talks about these days are Kira Killings."

"There are a lot of Kira supporters out there." Andrew muttered, scratching his chin and glaring at the television. "There's an organization out there calling themselves 'Kira's Fist.' They go around and try to make rally's supporting Kira and talking about the beginning of a utopia. Sometimes the riots get dangerous but nothing serious has happened with them yet."

"They're going to get bigger." Steven frowned. "Mainly because once Kira's killings grow on the scale, people will become afraid and will join the organization out of fear of being killed. They'll think that if they support Kira publicly then they'll be safe."

"The 3rd Kira will probably like that." Andrew said, shifting back into the sofa. "From the way he works…it looks like he wants a lot of publicity."

Steven nodded in agreement.

"What should we do with the break outs involving the break outs in the prisons?" Andrew asked.

"Kill everyone who breaks out. The news stations won't reveal their names or faces but the investigation reports have a list of everyone escaping each day. A lot of them are criminals who aren't even on Death row but because of this 3rd Kira they're afraid that they're at risk too." Steven took a sip of some milk and frowned down at the sheet of Death Note paper in his hands. It was filled out completely with that day's list of criminals to be killed.

"I'll do it tonight." Andrew said.

"Good."

Silence filled the room. Business was over. They'd talked about everything and the news channels were switching to different programming now. Steven looked at the clock. It was nearing 6.

"My mom'll be here in a minute." Steven said, standing up. "Tell me if anything happens tomorrow that you see on the news or the investigation reports."

"Alright." Andrew stood up as well and watched in silence as Steven slipped on his shoes. "It's funny…"

Steven looked up curiously. "What is?"

"We probably wouldn't be hanging out like this unless it was for these Death Notes…" Andrew smirked, looking down at his feet.

Steven frowned a little. "Yeah…"

"I guess…I'm glad I'm not doing this alone." Andrew admitted with a coy smile.

Steven stared at him for a second before smiling as well. "Me too."

What an idiot. Steven sat next to his mom as they drove home glaring out the window with his chin in his hand. It was usual for him to brood silently on car rides alone with his family so his mom wouldn't think anything of it.

Was Andrew really going to think that he could be his friend? Of course not. Steven saw right through that little smile. Andrew was planning to betray him in the end just like he was. Steven was going to have to put up with it until his plan came together. Steven would much rather work alone than with Andrew. The only good thing coming out of this was that he could now use his T.V. and computer for his own personal gain.

Steven's mind wandered to the rest of the world. How were other countries going to take this? So far only America has been affected by Kira which meant that the chances of Kira living there was almost 100 true. That didn't worry him. What worried him was what Andrew was planning to do with the 3rd Kira. Andrew thought that Steven didn't know anything so he could be the 3rd Kira and kill as many people as he wanted. And why? Because Andrew wanted to be fucking famous. He wanted to create fear throughout the nation and so far it was working. What Steven had said about the break out and "Kira's Fist" was all true.

When Steven got home and entered his room, Zando emerged from underneath the hatch in Steven's floor looking much more gaunt and haunting than usual. Though spending each day down there for a week must not be terribly satisfying.

"How was your day?" Steven asked with a wicked grin as he set his backpack down on the floor by his bed.

"Dandy." Zando grumbled.

"Here." Steven tossed him a banana and Zando's face lit up.

"Groovy." Zando said, gulping the banana, peel and all, down his throat.

Steven sat down on his bed and the Death God handed him the Death Note. He flipped it open and looked at all the pages with a bored expression on his face. He'd ripped out a few pages in the middle that were completely filled out but every page inside the note was completely clean except for a few smudge marks on the first page where he'd erased all the names he'd written to save space. He didn't know why, but it felt a little unsatisfying to know that he'd gone on for two months with this notebook and it was so empty of names. He'd stop erasing names for a while just for pure personal pleasure.

"Something wrong?" Zando asked curiously.

"No." Steven said, closing the Death Note and setting it down. "I'm just a little tired is all."

"Ah." Zando nodded, understanding. "Has it hit you yet?"

"Has what hit me?" Steven asked, staring up at the ceiling.

"The question: is all this worth it?" Zando grinned.

Steven's eyes narrowed but he continued to stare at the light bulb above him. "Is it all worth it?" He asked.

Zando shrugged. "That's not my question to answer."

"It's mine, I know." Steven said. "Of course it is worth it. To end all evil…I'm doing this for the greater good."

"And you're fighting your first enemy right now."

"Andrew…" Steven smirked. "If all my enemies are as brain-dead as he is then I'll have my utopia by the end of the year."

Zando laughed. "Is that so?"

"There's nobody in this world that can stop me, Zando." Steven said and the Shinigami noticed an evil gleam reflecting in his eyes. "Nobody."

The room was dark so the light coming from the big television set in front of them made everything else around them glow and eerie blue color. Their eyes never left the screen as they watched George Bush fall on top of the stage to the floor where he lied there rolling and clutching his chest for a few brief moments before death.

"We watched this a million times…" One of the boys muttered.

"I agree. This is pointless." Another boy said, standing behind the sofa biting the edge of his thumb out of habit. He had long, untidy black hair and a sickly appeal to him.

"I don't know…" The third boy said, his quiet voice barely being heard for his mouth was muffled into the back of the couch on which is small form was hanging from.

"Paying attention to detail is important." The 4th and final boy said, his eyes watching the president as he was taken away by ambulance men. They were watching scenes of the President's death but some of scenes had never been shown to the public before. The clips switched to the president's autopsy which had been recorded.

"It was a definite heart failure." The Mortician said, wiping his brow with his wrist. "If I were to give my personal opinion…It was Kira."

"I think we've all agreed on that." Said the old voice of the man recording the scene.

The next scene showed a long stream of reports from news stations across America talking about the increase in Death tolls from Kira along with the break outs and etc.

"There's nothing here, F." The first boy, who was sitting in the sofa watching the T.V. said, glaring side-ways at the boy next to him. He was hanging upside-down and of the four boys he was the only one with hair not hanging low over his face. He had a black pen in his mouth that he was chewing on absent-mindedly.

The boy he'd addressed had long, curly blonde hair and deep, sunken eyes that were staring steadily at the television screen as if seeing something nobody else could. "I've concluded something." He said

"What?" the upside-down boy asked with a small frown.

"This is Kira's doing."

"No shit!!"

The upside-down boy kicked the blonde boy in the side of his head. The scared looking boy hanging from the back of the couch squeaked and buried his eyes into the sofa. The sickly looking boy who had been standing, however, reached out with one hand and stopped the foot from hitting the blonde boy again.

"You shouldn't fight, E."

"Shut up. F made us watch these videos for three days straight trying to find something to help us but there's nothing." The upside-down boy named E snarled.

"You misunderstand." F said, apparently unaffected by the blow to the head. He looked at the three of them with a small smile. "The killer is indeed Kira, but not the same Kira we've been investigating."

"Explain." E said bluntly.

"There's at the very least…" F looked back at the huge T.V. for a second, appearing to space out again. "Two Real Kira's involved with this situation."

218


	16. Suspicions

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Sixteen

Suspicions

Steven hated it when he cut himself shaving. He grabbed the nearest washcloth and dabbed at the small red spot on the underside of his jaw. He still had half of his chin covered with white cream waiting for the razor to strike.

While he shaved, he observed his face and couldn't help but do a couple of cool expressions as he finished the job. When he was done, he had a chin strap beard covering the edges of his jaw. It made his chin look a bit bigger but it fit well enough. His hair was also starting to get notably longer. Soon he wouldn't be able to spike it up and he would have to start wearing his black beanie again.

These were the least of his worries.

He walked out of the bathroom feeling a little bit fresher that morning. It was still dark outside and he could tell just with one look that it would be an exceptionally cold day. So he wore his black, slightly torn sweatshirt.

It was a Wednesay. Halloween day. Steven decided that it would be safe to bring Zando along with him when they went out to trick or treat with his friends. Zando was excited. He didn't know what Halloween was and when Steven described that it was about a bunch of kids running around looking scarier than him, the Death God responded with a look of glee.

"And there's candy." Steven had added.

"Any bananas?"

"There's some banana flavored candy. I'll give you mine if I get some."

"Excellent."

Unfortunately for Zando, he would have to stay another day down inside the underground hatch in Steven's room. Steven did feel a little sorry for the Death God and decided that he would brain storm about where he could keep Zando during the days at school.

Zando had approached him the previous day and complained about why he couldn't just stay inside the house during the day.

"Because Andrew knows where I live. He's got a car. He can drive him and the Hunter here any time he wants to." Steven had said, a little tirelessly.

"Well they haven't yet…" Zando muttered spitefully.

"Andrew could be waiting for me to think that he wouldn't do something like that to strike." Steven said. "I'm not taking any chances. I can't keep an eye on Andrew all the time…"

And then, as Steven was standing at the bus stop, a sudden realization swooped over him and elated his insides. He couldn't keep an eye on Andrew…but he could have others do it for him. Jacob and Zito were both friends with Andrew. If he really needed to, he could set up a situation where they would follow Andrew. There were a lot of problems with that though. They would have to have a good reason to follow him on Steven's orders and he certainly wasn't going to explain the Death Note to his friends. But it was interesting to think that he'd be able to have eyes and ears in other places watching Andrew. On the bus ride to school he imagined situations where he'd catch Andrew in the act of betrayal using Zito or Jacob somehow but he knew the odds of doing this was slim to none.

He couldn't exactly ask them to be better friends with Andrew. And if he told them to just "follow" him wherever he went for no reason then they probably wouldn't be up for it. Steven shook his head. He couldn't rely on his friends for something like this. Zando would just have to suffer for a little while longer.

But it didn't look like Zando would be leaving anytime soon. Steven and Andrew were doing the same thing every day. Talking to each other about the 3rd Kira and what they may or may not be planning. Nothing was changing. Steven was waiting for Andrew to either make a big mistake, or to reveal his true plans using the 3rd Kira to his advantage. But Andrew wasn't doing anything. It was annoying.

_He's probably doing the same thing I am, waiting for me to make a mistake…_ Steven thought. He couldn't think of any other good way Andrew would be able to betray him. Though Andrew _was_ doing something underneath all of their Death Note talk. He was trying to become Steven's friend. That was Andrew's ability. To manipulate people into doing what he wanted. Too bad he was only good at manipulating girls.

Steven was going to allow Andrew to think that they were becoming good friends. Andrew was too closed minded. He wouldn't think that Steven was only pretending. He was getting used to acting a certain way in front of him now so he would be able to pull off the whole "New Friend" role perfectly. Then, maybe, he'd be able to get a clearer picture of what Andrew was really planning.

Steven sat down in second period, the familiar feeling of elation creeping up his spine as it always did whenever he entered this particular class was caused by the one person who seemed to make the Death Note come second.

Only, he and Jennie hadn't been talking very much recently. She had a few friends she talked to and sat next to on the opposite side of the room from where he sat usually. And unfortunately for him, he had an obligation now to sit right in-between his friends Garret and Worawat. Steven was always secretly annoyed with them. He'd tried a few times to sit away from them but they'd follow him like he was their leader of something. This meant whenever there was a class project; he had to be with them.

The only thing they were good for was talking to in order to get Jennie's attention on him. Sometimes he would act ecstatic around them and talk a little louder so that Jennie would be able to hear him and possibly join in on what they were talking about.

But she never did.

And then Steven had started to worry. Maybe she didn't want anything more to do with him. Maybe (And a lurching feeling went through him when he thought this) he'd become boring to her, or said something that might've offended her without realizing it.

So today, Steven had made a decision that he would try and talk to her again. Usually after class was the perfect time but whenever he went to do it, she would already be talking to her friend, Sarah Schmidt, who Steven was beginning to despise just for stealing Jennie's attention all the time.

Not today though. No. Steven would have to do something drastic to get her to talk to him again. And so when Mrs. Shaunesty told the class to pack up, Steven was already done doing so and was putting the backpack on over his shoulders. He was the first to stand up and feign a casual stretch while everyone else started packing.

Steven knew this was stupid. It was just talking. But he had to make sure…It wasn't a big deal. But he wanted to make sure he hadn't already stepped out of the "friend zone" with her.

He looked across the room and saw, to his abrupt surprise, her looking right back at him and he felt a painful skip of his heart. But she was quick to look back at her backpack which she zipped up and immediately started talking to Sarah who was sitting next to her.

Steven's heart sank almost as quickly as it had jumped and suddenly he didn't want to talk to her anymore. Why should he have to put in all the effort anyway? If he was anything to her then she should be able to talk to him too, right?

_She did invite you to a picnic…_ Said the little voice in his head again, denying everything he thought.

_Yeah, she also called it off…and that was a week and a half ago. We haven't even talked since then…_ And then Steven felt the sinking grow even deeper inside his chest. Maybe that was just an excuse to get him not to come. She really _did_ want nothing more to do with him…

Steven stood by the door looking darkly out the window. He was listening to Garret and Kyle talk about something unimportant next to him but at the same time he was thinking of how dumb he was to think he stood a chance at getting a girl like Jennie's attention. Especially in a class like this.

"What're you doing for Halloween?"

Steven jumped when he heard the familiar voice behind him and wheeled around to find Jennie looking at him curiously by his side.

"Huh?" He responded stupidly.

"Halloween's tonight. Don't tell me you're the type of person who sits around at home acting like you're too 'mature' to go trick or treating." Jennie grinned.

And suddenly everything he'd thought in the past five minutes didn't matter.

"I'm going out with some buddies tonight, actually." He said as the bell rang and they went outside. "We're gonna scope the hood for some candy. How about you?"

"Same here!" Jennie said. "Me and Schmidt are dressing up and taking her little sister out to a bunch of different neighborhoods to get her nice and fat."

They laughed as Sarah joined Jennie's side and the two of them started talking about how last year they did the same thing. Steven felt a little out of place and they were talking to fast that he didn't want to interrupt them so when they reached the main building he said goodbye and he went into the lunchroom feeling much happier than he'd felt in weeks.

When he sat down at the table, the first thing he noticed was the odd stare Zito was giving him. It was kind of like a squinty-eyed suspicious glare and Steven knew Zito only did it whenever he was thinking deeply about something.

"What?" Steven asked, almost a bit rudely.

"You're acting differently lately." Zito said, rubbing his chin and acting wise.

Steven rolled his eyes but his insides squirmed a bit. It was true though. Zito probably noticed the fact that he'd been a lot darker these days. Steven had noticed that the undersides of his eyes were even beginning to grow a bit blacker. He wondered sometimes if this was some sort of insomniac symptom that came with using the Death Note.

"I've just had a lot on my mind." He said honestly. "I've been up late a lot doing homework and studying because I want to do my best to pass high school this year. I'm a few credits behind, after-all."

Zito nodded; as if understanding but Steven got the feeling he wasn't entirely convinced. The subject dropped, however, when Catheryne Baker and Jacob came and joined them at the table.

The rest of the day went normally and soon Steven found himself heading over to Andrew's house once again. He noticed, as he got inside Andrew's truck, that Zito was standing by the buses watching him with a curious expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" Andrew asked.

"Nothing…" Steven muttered. He didn't want to let Andrew know that Zito was getting suspicious of them. The more that Andrew didn't know the better. Besides, Steven could handle Zito by himself.

There was a knock at the door and Luke sprung out of the kitchen and answered it.

"Zito!" Luke roared a greeting and backed into his house to return to his half-made Tortilla on the kitchen counter.

"Sup, Luke." Zito grunted.

"Where's Steve?" Luke asked, wrapping the Tortilla up and taking a huge bite out of it.

"Andrew's." Zito said and Luke stopped mid-bite for a second.

"Andrew?"

"Yeah."

"Does he usually do that now?"

"I don't know." Zito shrugged, sitting down on the couch. It was clear that he wanted to talk about this with someone and Luke could see that maybe there was more to this friendly visit than appeared. "He's been acting differently lately, though. I asked him why and he says because he hasn't been getting enough sleep. Too much studying or something."

Luke choked on his Tortilla. "Studying?" he scoffed.

"What?"

"He doesn't care about studying." Luke chuckled reassuringly. "He told me that he wants to drop out of school. He doesn't try in any of his classes because he knows he isn't going to graduate."

"What!?" Zito frowned. "So…wait—why would he lie?"

"I dunno." Luke shrugged. He didn't really care either. If Steve wanted to lie to Zito that was his business. Though the fact that Steven was visiting Andrew did seem a bit strange. Luke knew that he didn't like Andrew too much because of what he'd done before to Katlynn and Baker, among other things.

"Hmm." Zito frowned at the carpet. "Maybe he and Andrew…are planning something."

"Like what?" Luke asked, deciding to listen to whatever crazy scheme Zito had to say for this situation.

"I dunno." Zito shrugged. "But Steve is lying about something and I'm gonna figure out what it is."

Luke looked at him and saw that he was wearing a wild grin on his face.

"Go for it." Luke shrugged, still not really caring as he finished his Tortilla.

There was nothing new being shown on any of the news stations. Same old Kira killings throughout the nation. Kira's Fist was plotting to have a march in New York. That was about it. Steven yawned and packed up his backpack, checking the clock and seeing that it was nearing 5ish.

"Well, this was fun." Andrew said, almost a little sarcastically.

"Isn't Katlynn a little bit upset that you're spending more time with me than her now?" Steven asked, shoving his sheet of Death Note paper full of names in-between the notebooks of his backpack.

"Not really. She understands the whole deal. Well…" Andrew paused and Steven cast him a glance.

"Well, what?"

"I haven't told her about everything we've been doing." Andrew said and Steven immediately wondered if this was true. What would Andrew get out of lying to him about this?

"Why not?" Steven asked, looking back down at his things.

"I don't trust her completely." Andrew said. "She's immature and not very good at lying to people. I don't think we can afford to let anyone else know about what we're doing."

Steven nodded. "Agreed."

"You haven't been talking to this stuff with Zito and Luke, have you?" Andrew asked sharply.

Steven frowned. "No. I'm not that stupid."

"Oh, okay…Good."

Andrew turned around to go into the bathroom. Steven watched him go with a dark look in his eyes. Why did Andrew want to know if he was sharing information with Zito and Luke? Did he really think he was plotting something with all his friends? Or maybe… and Steven felt a rush of horror. Maybe Andrew was planning on revealing the truth to them without letting Steven know. To use his manipulation skills on Luke wouldn't work but… he _was_ friends with Zito…

228


	17. Zito

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Seventeen

Zito

Katlynn was used to it now. Being able to see people's names and age limits above their heads was becoming hardly noticeable anymore. Whenever she sat in a classroom, she saw a lot of numbers above everyone's head but she didn't pay any attention to them. The numbers were long for everyone, after-all, and it didn't say what the numbers meant. Whether they were days, minutes, seconds, she didn't know. So she figured as long as someone's number was bigger than five digits then they'd be okay.

She was a little depressed when she saw that her dad's number showed "4571" which meant he'd probably be dying within the next few years. She wasn't entirely sure though. She'd tried to figure out by following her father around. From the looks of it, the number subtracted by 1 for every sixteen minutes. She tried to do the math in her head but it was too confusing and had decided to just give up and wait.

It was Thursday afternoon and she was looking through all of the Halloween candy she'd gotten. She went out with Andrew and her best friend, Kelly, trick or treating the previous night and had a lot of fun. Even though Ryoku was following her around wherever she went. At first, Katlynn was a little bit frightened of the Death God. It certainly came as a shock when she came out of the shower and he was standing right in the middle of the bathroom.

Katlynn had a small suspicion that the Hunter was a bit of a pervert. But it'd been two weeks since Andrew had ordered him to follow her around, during and after school hours. It was nice to have someone to vent her frustrations on. And whenever she had a question about her homework, Ryoku had a generally good answer. Apparently the Hunter had studied Human text books while living in the Shinigami world in order to further his intelligence about them.

Today she was sitting in her room before school, straightening her hair and staring at herself in the mirror.

"Hey, Ryoku?" She said.

The Hunter looked up from the corner of her room, standing as still as a statue.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Am I ugly?"

Ryoku blinked. "Ugly?"

Katlynn grinned. "Then again, why am I asking you, right?"

"You want my honest answer?" Ryoku said. "All humans are ugly in physical appearance. The way they're so symmetrical is a little…frightening."

Katlynn laughed. "You're so weird."

"Why do you ask me such a question?" Ryoku asked, tilting his head slightly.

"I dunno…" Katlynn sighed. This wasn't entirely true. Andrew had been ignoring her lately. She was so used to being by his side all the time and knowing everything about him that it was a little bit uncomfortable to be cast aside like this, and for a guy like Steven.

"How do you feel about Andrew using you like this?" Ryoku asked abruptly.

"What?" Katlynn glared at him.

"Using you for your eyes." Ryoku said bluntly.

"He's not using me." Katlynn muttered coldly.

"Yes he is."

"Prove it."

"…He made me give you the Death God eyes and he made you agree to shorten your lifespan in half." Ryoku, ever so bluntly, said again.

"He didn't make me do anything." Katlynn growled. "I agreed to do this for him."

"You shortened your life in half for some boy?" Ryoku asked surprised. "From my studies, I find that not very many girls your age would do such a thing."

"That's because not very many girls my age are in love." Katlynn said with a small smile. "At least not for real."

Ryoku stared at her in silence for a few seconds as she finished straightening her hair. "Love, eh?" He muttered, as if the word was foreign to him. "Is that what you think you have?"

Katlynn was starting to get annoyed. What would a stupid Shinigami know about human emotions? She knew in her heart that she loved him or else she never would've shortened her life in half. Besides, she knew that if she didn't then Andrew would be in danger, maybe even dead. He'd told her so himself. And she wouldn't allow him to die like that, even if she still had a hard time believing that Steven would do such a thing. The point was that Katlynn loved Andrew. And always would. No matter what.

Steven sat down at the table in the lunchroom during break that day looking tired and a little bit grouchy about something.

"You alright, Steve?" Jacob asked, sipping from some apple juice. The two of them were alone at the moment.

"I'm fine." Steven lied. "Just having sleeping problems."

In truth, he was anxious. Andrew might have been planning to turn his friends against him somehow. What if he'd already gotten to Jacob and Zito? He couldn't be sure. Steven was positive that he would never tell his friends about the Death Note…But would Andrew? In order to exterminate Steven as a threat? Andrew surely wouldn't mind trying to get a few supporters to spy on Steven where he wouldn't expect it. Only problem was that Andrew would be taking a great risk in trying to turn Zito and Jacob against him. The only way would be to lie to them heavily enough for them to take his side over Steve's. And he knew that Andrew was certainly capable of something like that.

_I can't make too many quick judgments unless I see something suspicious…I have to be on constant alert…_Steven thought with a dark frown as Zito, Baker and Cameron joined them at the table.

"Hey, Steve." Zito said right away. "Are you going to Andrew's after school again?"

Steven blinked. So quick. Did he dare tell the truth?

"Yeah, tomorrow." He said, pretending to act nonchalant about it. "Why?"

"Well, I was thinking it was pretty cool of you to be friends with him again." Zito began. "And we haven't all hung out together at his house in a while. Do you mind if I join you?"

Steven shrugged. "I dunno, I'll ask him."

"I can ask him." Zito said.

"Alright, go ahead."

"Cool."

What the fuck!?

Steven walked to third period next to Jacob, the inside of his mind roaring with fury. Why the hell did Zito suddenly want to be jolly rancher with Andrew? Did this mean that Andrew had already come into contact with him? Fuck! Or was Zito just feeling left out. He remembered Zito watching him get into Andrew's car yesterday and driving off without him. Maybe it was all just Steven's imagination and that Zito just wanted to join them for round of Halo.

But there was no doubt about it. He would have to tell Andrew that Zito wanted to come tomorrow which meant that they wouldn't be able to discuss their plans with Kira and the Death Note that day. It threw off their schedule but that didn't matter.

At least Steven would be able to keep an eye out for them. If he let them be alone, Andrew would surely take advantage of it and show Zito everything about the Death Note and try to pull his mind games to turn him against Steve.

But if Steven went with them…what if this was all Andrew's plan to trap him? What if Andrew had somehow orchestrated the perfect trap to get Steven in trouble and maybe he and Zito really were plotting something.

Steven was so paranoid and confused that when Mr. Mjelli scolded him for not cleaning the floors properly he yelled at the teacher and stormed out of the room with his backpack in a fury.

"Steve! Steve!" Jacob called, rushing after him as the bell rang a minute later. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing. Just leave me alone." Steven grumbled.

He turned the corner to abandon Jacob only to find himself faced with Jennie a few feet down the hall from him. His heart did an uncomfortable leap and he literally felt his brain go dead for a few seconds from the shock.

She must've seen the dark look on his face because when she walked toward him, she had a frown too. "You look mad." She said, almost matter-of-factly.

"Just feeling sick." Steven said, clutching his stomach and forcing a weak smile. "Had some bad — err — cereal this morning." It didn't feel right lying to Jennie and in truth it did make him feel a little bit sick.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Jennie said and she left him there feeling stupid, frustrated, queezy and confused all at once. He continued on toward his fourth period, hoping that he'd be able to clear his head a little bit.

But every time he tried to clear his head, too many thoughts intruded in at once and his brain felt fuzzy and contorted. He wanted to just forget about all of this but he knew he couldn't do that. In the end, it came down to how much he trusted Zito.

But did he trust him? He certainly didn't trust Andrew with Zito and he had no idea what Andrew could possibly be planning or if he was planning anything to begin with. Zito was his friend, one of his best friends. He had to trust him…

Or did he? The Death Note was the most important thing right now. Defeating Andrew as well. Did he have time for trust? No. If he put 100 trust in anyone but himself then there was a chance he'd be screwed over by them. He had decided on that months ago. No. He couldn't chance a trust with anyone. Not Zito. Not Jacob. Not even Luke. He was alone in this.

After lunch, Steven approached Andrew like they usually did to discuss their daily business with taking care of criminals. But today he was going to talk about something different.

"I can't come over tomorrow." Steven said.

"Huh, why?" Andrew asked, his face falling and Steven saw a hint of anger in his eyes.

"Zito wants to hang out with us tomorrow. We won't be able to do any business with the Death Note." Steven said.

"Oh…" Andrew frowned. "Well…why don't we just hang out at my place then? No business. We can just play video games and stuff."

The softness of his voice told Steven that he was trying to suggest that they were friends now and for a brief second or two, he actually believed that he wanted to be friends with him. But this was Andrew the manipulator. He had already played the "I hope we can be friends" card earlier and now he was using it to try and convince him to come over tomorrow despite the fact that they wouldn't be doing business.

"Sorry, I have other stuff to do tomorrow." Steven said.

"Bullshit." Andrew snarled.

Steven frowned. Did he dare? Yes he did.

"Do you actually think that we can be friends?" Steven asked with an almost sarcastic smirk on his face. "We're partners with the Death Note. That's it."

Andrew said nothing. Steven turned and started to walk away.

"I thought we were becoming friends…"

Steven stopped for a second, turning his head slightly and saying. "We can never be friends…" before continuing to walk away leaving Andrew standing in the middle of the empty hallway in silence.

Steven slammed the bedroom door behind him and sat down on his bed, running his fingers through his hair and releasing a huge roar or frustration. Zando emerged from the floor holding the Death Note and looking somber.

"I was sleeping." The Death God mumbled.

"Let me see that." Steven demanded.

He handed Steven the Death Note and he flipped it open roughly.

"What's up?" Zando asked.

Steven didn't bother answering. He had a plan in his head. But there was still one flaw with the plan that he needed to fix before he went through with it, luckily for him, there was a way to solve the problem and get the results today.

He took out a pencil and wrote on the first page "Richard B. Cheney gives Michael Brown his glasses during the funeral for George Bush. Five seconds later, they both die of Heart Attack."

He then raced toward the television and turned on the closest news station. He watched as the funeral for George Bush took place. He waited, knowing that in less than forty seconds he would be able to see if this little test had the outcome that he'd be hoping for.

And to his amazement, Steven watched the man he recognized as Dick Cheney, take off his glasses in the middle of his speech and hand them to the head of FEMA, Michael brown, who took them and held them in his hands as if he wanted nothing more than to hold them for him. The crowd stared at the scene in confusion as Dick Cheney said no more and, abruptly, the two old men yelled out and collapsed onto the floor clutching their chests and gurgling foam from their mouths.

People in the crowds screamed in terror and a loud chant of "Kira! Kira!! Kira!!" was heard from the distance. A reporter ran up to the camera and shouted to look away and announced that the President and Head of FEMA were both dead.

Zando looked at Steven as he watched the scene unfold and he wondered whether or not this was the outcome he wanted. Without a word, Steven turned and walked into his bedroom, sat on his bed, and to the Death God's amazement, he watched as he cried into his pillow.

The Shinigami had no idea what to do. "Your face is leaking." He said, looking down at him curiously. "Are you okay?"

Steven sniffed and looked up at Zando with a grin. "I've won."

237


	18. Betrayed

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Eighteen

Betrayed

Zito awoke that morning to the sound of his step-mom walking across the hardwood floor in her high heels. He grunted, remembering that it was a late start Friday today so he could be able to sleep in. He'd been having a nice dream about zombies.

As he lied there in bed trying to go back to sleep, he remembered what it was that he had been planning yesterday. It all came back to him full force and he couldn't help but grin. He was going to find out what was going on between Steven and Andrew today. A little snooping around Andrew's house while they were distracted wouldn't hurt anybody, after-all. He doubted heavily that the two of them were just "playing Halo" every day.

Once at school, he sat down at the round table like he usually did, surrounded by Jacob, Baker, and Cameron. Steven was nowhere to be found.

"He's been going through a rough time, guys." Jacob muttered, sipping his apple juice when Zito brought up Steven's disappearance.

"What?" Zito asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No shit." Cameron sighed.

"What do you mean?" Baker asked.

"Well, I don't know if he wants me telling you guys this but…" Jacob shook his head. "Yesterday he blew up at Mr. Mjelli and walked out and not only that but he's been acting really, I don't know, moody lately."

"Do you think it might have something to do with Andrew?" Zito asked.

"What?" Baker's face lit up at the sound of his name.

Jacob answered with another shake of his head as he finished his apple juice.

"How about we let him tell us whenever he wants to fucking tell us." Cameron said with a frown.

"I'm just saying…" Zito shrugged tiredly.

"Hey, Zito." Said a familiar voice behind him and he looked up to find Andrew and Katlynn standing by his side.

"Oh, Whatsup?" Zito muttered groggily.

"Are you still coming over today?" Andrew asked.

"Hell yeah, dude. Halo!"

"Yeah, we can play Xbox Live and stuff." Andrew grinned.

Zito didn't understand why Steven disliked Andrew so much. Andrew just had a rough time growing up with his mom and all and he understood what it was like to have a bad mom.

They talked about Halo for the rest of break while everyone else stayed quiet. Katlynn was avoiding looking at Baker and visa versa. When neither of them left, Andrew decided to shepherd Katlynn away from.

"You're going to Andrew's?" Baker asked.

"Yeah, so?" Zito shrugged.

"He asked me to go too."

"What?"

Baker nodded. "I don't think I will, though. I have no interest in Halo…and it's kind of awkward between us. Plus…I don't think Katlynn knows that he asked me."

Zito frowned. "Huh, oh well… It'll be fun." He didn't really think too hard about why Andrew wanted Baker there too. He didn't care. It was Andrew's business.

By the end of the day, Zito hadn't seen Steven anywhere at school. He wondered vaguely if he was home sick or something. He'd tried to see him after second period but didn't see him there either. Nor did he show up during lunch like he usually did. Something in his gut told him that there was something wrong with all of this but he decided not to worry about it.

When the bell for sixth period rang, Zito went outside by the buses like he normally did and met up with Andrew and Katlynn.

"Where's Steve?" Zito asked.

"He's not coming." Andrew muttered.

Zito was taken aback. "Why? Is he sick today?"

"No, he said he had other stuff to do…" Andrew looked down at his feet when he said this. "Don't worry. It'll make more sense to you when we get back to my house."

"Huh?" Zito blinked. He didn't understand. Was Andrew going to show him something? Zito got into the car with them and he realized that this might have something to do with why Andrew and Steven were hanging out so much. Andrew was going to explain everything for him, he didn't have to snoop. Finally, he could be apart of something. Maybe Andrew had the answer behind Steven's difference in attitude. Whatever it was, he was about to find out…

Steven had been at school the entire day. Now, however, he sat on the bus home, looking out the window with a blank expression on his face, his chin resting in his palm as people talked loudly all around him and the song "Baby, I need your Loving" played on the radio.

When the bus dropped him off, he walked by himself to his house, careful to stay ten feet in front of his sister and her friends to avoid confrontation like he'd done the rest of the day with everyone else, even his own friends.

Zando greeted him merrily inside of his bedroom as Steven dropped his backpack on the floor and immediately went over to the living room where he took a seat on the sofa and stared out the window in silence. Zando followed him, looking back and forth between him and the window with a confused frown.

"Bad day?" Zando asked.

Steven didn't answer. The Death God took this as a hint that he didn't want to be disturbed right now. Something was happening but the Shinigami had no clue what. All he knew was that the last time he'd heard Steven talk was yesterday when he'd announced that he'd already won the battle with Andrew and that he would no longer need to be hiding underneath the floor. Unfortunately for Zando, he had no idea how Steven would have managed to pull this off, and why was he acting so strange?

It was an hour before Steven decided to lie down across the couch and start watching television, but Zando noticed that he still seemed to be thinking deeply about something. His eyes were narrow and dark and even though the volume of the T.V. was high, it didn't look like he was really listening.

"Hey, Zando…" Steven muttered and his voice sounded cracked, like he hadn't talked at all for the entire day.

Zando was standing in the corner behind the love seat watching T.V. When Steven addressed him. He snapped his glance to him and grinned. "Yes?"

"Remember back when I asked you…if it was unforgivable to betray your friends?" Steven asked, eyes never leaving the television screen. "You said that to use them for the greater good is alright but to betray them is not…What if I told you…that betraying them was for the greater good? What would you say to that?"

Zando frowned. He remembered this conversation and he remembered his friend, Ryoku, or at least when they used to be friends. Betraying for the greater good…

"I don't know." Zando said honestly. "Doing something evil for something good…How ironic…Why?"

"I had to make a choice…" Steven muttered.

Zando's grin turned into a frown. "Why were you really crying yesterday?"

Steven looked at him for moment or two but didn't say anything. Instead he stared out the window in surprise.

Zando curiously turned around and saw a vehicle pull into the driveway. Someone familiar was getting out of the side, holding something in their hands.

Steven got up from the couch and went to the front door. He opened it before the visitor had a chance to reach the house. Zando joined Steven at his side and watched as Zito stepped up to them, only there was something different about him.

He had a glazed over look in his eyes. There wasn't a single trace of emotion on him. It looked like Zito was acting under control of a spell. And in his hands, to Zando's amazement, was a Death Note.

Without a word, Zito bent over and set the Death Note down by Steven's feet. And when he stood up again, Steven had a pained expression on his face.

"I'm sorry." Steven said.

Zito didn't respond, instead he turned around and walked away. The truck pulled out of the driveway and left as well. Steven didn't see who had been in it but he didn't have to. He already knew.

And slowly, shakily, he bent over and picked up the little, black notebook on the welcoming mat. "I won…" He muttered to Zando, only his voice was quieter than the last time he said it…

On Steven's bed, inside of his Death Note on the first page…

"Andrew Craddock gives Joshua Zito his Death Note at 3:15 PM and drives him to 136th ST, SE 40th at the house address of 4040 where Joshua gets out of the vehicle and sets the Death Note down on the welcome mat. Joshua walks back to his home. Andrew drives back to his home. They don't talk to anybody. Both of them die at 3:45 PM from Heart Attacks."

Steven had made sure to test each specific scenario out separately earlier during his beginning experimentation with the Death Note. He could write in their names first and then include how they die as long as it was written within 6 minutes and 40 seconds prior to writing their actual name in. He concluded with the Cheney and Brown test that someone could give someone else an object as long as they were within the vicinity of each other. Steven knew that Andrew and Zito would be together after school and the safest time he could think of would be sometime after 3 o clock. By then, Andrew would have been done explaining everything about the Death Note and trying to convince Zito to join him. Steven knew Zito would take a while before being convinced to betray his best friend. That wasn't the issue. He'd also tested earlier on that as long as you put a specific address, then the person whose name is written will be able to go to that place. It was almost like being able to have a small amount of puppeteer-like control over someone. Of course, this control was severely limited. But this was a simple task. Deliver the Death Note and die minutes later.

Steven looked at the clock. He'd received the Death Note at 3:35, just like he'd planned. It was now 3:34. One more minute and his friend would be dead, and so would Andrew. The fact that Zito had delivered the Death Note to him proved this. He'd won. He'd finally beaten Andrew, but lost someone along the way. But he regretted nothing. He'd decided a long time ago that he would have to use his friends to his advantage if he had to. And Zito had decided to be suspicious of him and find out what they were up to. Curiosity killed the cat but fed the dog. That's what had just happened. He'd avoided him at school today. He'd avoided everyone. He'd avoided confrontation. Steven wanted to remain alone in his thoughts today. Not even seeing Jennie during Second Period had erased the weight of knowing that he was killing one of his best friends. There was no turning back. This was it. Nobody could stop this from happening now. Not even Katlynn or Ryoku. Steven knew that Ryoku was with Katlynn. Andrew wanted her to be protected, to have an extra pair of invisible eyes behind her back just in case Steven had decided to try and convince Katlynn to join his side. In the end, Andrew was just like Steven in a sense that he didn't trust anyone, not even his girlfriend, only himself. Only the difference was that this would be his downfall. Neither of them would know what had happened until it would too late. Steven already knew what was going to happen after this. He was prepared for what responsibilities he would be facing. With Andrew gone, there would be no 3rd Kira. No 2nd Kira. Only Kira. Only Him.

"So…he's dead, then?" Zando asked as the minute hand turned to 3:45.

Steven smiled. "Yes."

244


	19. Katlynn

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Nineteen

Katlynn

"So what now?" Zando asked.

Steven paced his bedroom. The glorious feeling that he'd defeated Andrew in his gut was currently making a swarm to clog his brain but he had other things to think about. This wasn't over. Yes, Zito was dead and that was sad and yes he'd won against his primary enemy but there were still other things to prepare before he could celebrate.

"Can I start coming with you to school again?" Zando asked. "I haven't been outside in two weeks."

Steven looked at him, thinking about his question for a moment. "I'm sorry, but no."

"What!?" Zando looked outraged.

"You can stay inside the house but you don't have to go down in the hatch anymore." Steven told him. "Ryoku is still out there, so is Katlynn and they would both be together right about now, unaware of Andrew's death."

"Then just kill Katlynn." Zando said desperately.

"What's the point?" Steven frowned. "She doesn't know where I live, neither does Ryoku."

Zando blinked. "Yeah, but…"

"And she doesn't have a Death Note." Steven said, holding up the second Death Note he'd received from Zito. "I have Andrew's now."

"That's true…" Zando muttered, scratching his chin.

"This Death Note is technically Ryoku's. And a Shinigami is only allowed one Death Note, right?" Steven asked, making sure.

"Yeah, and Ryoku is a Death God who follows by the rules so he wouldn't try and steal one just to give to Katlynn…" Zando said. "Why can't I come with you to school, though?"

"Because Katlynn might still be having Ryoku following her around." Steven said. "If I see anything suspicious out of her, I'll kill her right away so we don't risk anything. But right now she's virtually harmless."

"What happens if Ryoku decides to follow you home?" Zando asked.

"That won't work." Steven grinned. "I have his Death Note, which means I can see him from now on."

"Oh yeah!" Zando said and his grin seemed to grow. "You really did it."

"Yup." Steven sighed and lied down on his bed. "If Ryoku is stupid enough to think that following me home would work without me noticing, then I'll go to Luke's house. Don't try and come looking for me and don't leave the house unless I specifically tell you to. And if, by some off chance that Ryoku or anybody else does break in here, you hide down in that hatch. I don't care if they're human or not. I don't want anyone to risk seeing you."

"Alright." Zando said, not looking to happy about the chances of having to hide down in the ground again. "Are you sure Katlynn doesn't know where you live?"

"She's never been over here." Steven said. "We've been friends for only a year but we're not _that_ good of friends. I'm surprised Andrew never tried to convince Katlynn to become better friends with me so she would come over here for him…"

Somehow, talking about the things Andrew could've done to try and foil his plans made him smirk. Then a grin. And soon, Zando was watching Steven laugh.

"I told you, Zando." Steven sighed after a minute or two. "Nobody can beat me."

"Still Arrogant, are you?" Zando grinned.

"Better than ignorant."

"There's a difference?"

Steven smirked at him. "You're funny."

"I try." Zando shrugged.

**One Hour, and Fifty minutes ago…**

Katlynn got into Andrew's car where she sat in the backseat and watched as Andrew and Zito talked more about Halo on their drive home. She knew what Andrew was really thinking. She knew him long enough to know what kind of thoughts went through his mind. He was distracting Zito, making him feel comfortable.

But Steven was supposed to be there too. And now he wasn't. Had Andrew killed him? No, he wouldn't do that without telling her. He was bringing Zito over, though. Was he planning to reveal everything they were planning to _him_?

Ryoku was flying over the hood of the car as they drove for about twenty minutes down into Andrew's neighborhood. His house was only a few houses down from Katlynn's. She could still remember meeting him at the bus stop at the beginning of last year.

"Alright, you're coming with us too." Andrew said to her abruptly, driving past her house.

"What?" Katlynn blinked. "I don't want to play Halo."

"We're not going to be playing Halo…" Andrew muttered.

It was Zito's turn to look surprised. "What?"

Andrew pulled into his driveway and got out. Zito and Katlynn followed and she saw Ryoku land like a bird on top of Andrew's roof.

"What are we going to do?" Zito asked.

"I told you I'd show you something when we got to my house." Andrew said. "Explaining why Steven couldn't be with us here today."

"Do you really need my help for that?" Katlynn groaned.

"Yes, I do." Andrew said.

"Wait, Katlynn, you know about this too?" Zito asked, shocked.

Katlynn nodded feebly, looking at her boyfriend and wondering what he was thinking. Was telling Zito everything really such a smart idea? And why did he need her here? Wouldn't having Ryoku around as proof be enough?

"When is Zito going to die, Katlynn?" Andrew demanded suddenly.

"What?" they both said. Zito looked dumbfounded.

"Tell me the number above his head." Andrew said.

"Number?" Zito asked and literally felt around with his hands in the air above his head. "What are you guys talking about?"

Katlynn frowned and cast a glance at Zito. "It says it's 9776903" She didn't know how long in years that would be exactly but the number was large which showed he'd live a long time.

"Calculate that." Andrew said to Ryoku.

Zito blinked. "Is someone going to tell me what's going on?"

"It's 47 years." Ryoku said.

"You have 47 more years left to live, Zito." Andrew said. "This means when you're 65 years old you're going to die."

Zito grinned a little. "Yeah right."

"It's true." Katlynn said.

"Just tell me what's going on." Zito demanded, getting furious about being left in the dark.

Andrew stood there for a moment before looking at the clock. 2:40 PM. He left the room without a word leaving Zito standing alone with Katlynn, who took a seat on the sofa, wondering if what Andrew was doing was really a good idea or not.

"Is he going crazy?" Zito asked in a hushed whisper.

"No." Katlynn shook her head. "Everything will make sense in a little bit."

Andrew returned holding a little, black notebook in his hands. Zito looked at it for a second and read the words on the cover.

"Death Note?" He repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"The person's whose name is written in this notebook will die." Andrew stated, opening the notebook and looking at the list of rules on the inside-front cover. "You can make them die in whichever way you want them to but if you simply write their name in they'll die 40 seconds later from a Heart attack."

Zito stared at him with his mouth open for a second before letting lose a laugh. "This is a joke, right? Let me see that thing."

Andrew glared at him. "Do you need proof?"

Zito nodded.

Andrew smirked and handed him the Death Note. Zito only had it for one second before throwing it in the air, falling on his ass, yelling in horror and pointing a shaky finger at Ryoku.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING!?" He roared.

"Idiot." Ryoku muttered.

"That is the Death God." Andrew said calmly. "He's been here this whole time. You just couldn't see him because you have to actually touch the Death Note that belongs to him."

"Holy shit. Holy shit…" Zito muttered over and over, standing up slowly and clutching his chest. "There's…That can't be real…!"

"Need proof?" Ryoku asked, tilting his head.

"It talks!!" Zito yelled, nearly falling over again.

Andrew and Katlynn looked at each other with smirks.

"He can't hurt us. Don't worry." Katlynn reassured him.

"It's true." Ryoku stated. "These blades can only kill other Shinigami."

"A Shinigami. What is that?" Zito asked.

"A Death God." Andrew said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. "It's about time I told you about everything that's going on."

"Yeah." Zito muttered. "So wait, that thing has been following you around every day?"

"His name is Ryoku." Andrew said. "And yes, for the past month or so."

"Wow…" Zito muttered, unable to believe his eyes as he stared the Death God before him. "Why are you wearing that mask?"

"Mask?" Ryoku blinked. "This is my face."

"Did you hear what I said about the Death Note?" Andrew interrupted impatiently.

"Huh? What?" Zito looked away from Ryoku and down at the Death Note on the floor. Andrew bent over and picked it up.

"This is the reason why all of this is happening." Andrew said. "You can kill anyone you want with this."

"No way." Zito said, snatching it and flipping through the pages. "Holy crap, you already filled it up half-way. This…can't be real."

"What do you think I am, then?" Ryoku asked. "Andrew, I'm getting impatient with this guy. Can you hurry up?"

Andrew nodded as Zito closed the Death Note.

"There are a lot of guidelines you have to follow when using that." Andrew said. "You need to know their name and face—"

"Why are you showing me all this?" Zito interrupted.

Andrew stared at him. He could save the rules of the Death Note for later.

"I'm not the only one who has a Death Note and a Shinigami following them around." Andrew said.

Zito stared at him for a second before slowly turning to Katlynn. "You do too?"

"No!" Katlynn said.

"Steven." Andrew said. "He's the other user."

Zito's face fell. "Steve?"

"Yes."

Zito stood rooted to the spot in silence, registering all of this information so quickly was hurting his head. "That explains his attitude, lately…" He muttered. "And why you guys have been hanging out every day."

Andrew nodded. "Was that the reason you came here?"

"I was suspicious…I wanted to find out what was going on but I had no idea…" Zito muttered, staring at the Death Note incredulously. "But, why does it matter if he has a Death Note? It doesn't explain why you're telling me this."

"Because, Zito…" Andrew said, approaching him. "I need your help killing him."

Zito stared up at Andrew and backed away. "No. Fuck that. Are you crazy? I'm not going to kill him. And you shouldn't either! Why do you want to kill him?"

"Because he wants to kill me just as badly." Andrew said. "And because he's in the way of my plans and because…" He paused and looked at Katlynn and then back at Zito, tears coming to his eyes. "…Because he's a threat to my friends."

Zito stared at him, his back against the front door. Was Andrew serious? He couldn't imagine Steven plotting to kill him and his friends. None of this made any sense and yet a little voice in his head said that it made perfect sense.

"I need your help, Zito." Andrew said. "Please…"

"Why do you need my help?" Zito asked. "You can kill him with this, right?"

"No." Andrew shook his head. "He also has a Death God with him. If I write Steven's name in this, then his Shinigami will take the Death Note and leave. Then he will just find someone else and I'll have to go through all of this again, only it'll be much harder. The same will happen if he tries to kill me."

Zito frowned. He understood it all but he still didn't want to believe it. That this secret battle between his friends had been happening this entire time without him even realizing it.

"How the hell would I be able to help you?" Zito asked suspiciously.

"You can spy on him for me." Andrew said. "Go to his house, talk to him, find out more from him. He himself might decide to tell you all of this and will try to convince you to take me out. You'll have to act like all of this was just a surprise to you if he does. But no matter what he says to you, don't believe him."

"I know his lying face." Zito said, almost a little proudly. "I can tell if he's lying to me or not."

"Another reason why I chose you to help me." Andrew said but Katlynn got the feeling that he was only trying to flatter Zito. Andrew was a liar too, after-all.

"He will try to manipulate you into thinking that I'm doing the wrong thing. That I'm the bad guy." Andrew said. "I've talked with Catheryne and apparently he thinks I'm some sort of evil person bent on manipulating girls."

Zito ignored the fact that Baker would betray Steven to Andrew, but Katlynn didn't.

"You still talk to her?" She asked, looking like she'd just been smacked across the face.

"I need her as a spy. That's all." Andrew told Katlynn reassuringly. "But Zito, you're much more to me than a spy… If Steven decided to kill you to get to me… I don't know what I'd do if I knew I was the reason you died…"

Zito looked at him sadly. It was true. He knew Andrew had a horrible life. His friends were the only thing keeping him going. And Zito was his friend and if he could be there for him, he would. But Steven was his friend too. He couldn't just decide to kill him. He couldn't take sides for either of them.

"What if I just…stay out of this?" Zito asked. "You guys battle and do your thing but I want nothing to do with it."

"Steven won't CARE!" Andrew cried out angrily. "If he wants me dead, he'll do anything he can! Even use you, his supposedly "best friend" to kill me! I'm your real friend, Josh! I would never kill you! The fact that I'm showing you all of this proves that!"

Zito gulped and felt a sick feeling enter his gut and he regretted ever wanting to know about what was going on. He wanted out of this. He didn't want to kill anyone. This Death Note was a cool idea and all but it wasn't something that was meant for him.

"I…I can't." He muttered.

Andrew placed a hand on his shoulder. "Please. If you don't help me…then you've already helped him kill me."

This was it. By saying that, Zito knew that he had to make a choice. "Just…just let me think, alright?" He said, walking over and sitting on the couch next to Katlynn. He ran his hands through his hair and groaned.

"I have to talk to Steve about all of this." He said.

"If you do that then he'll know that I told you." Andrew said.

"Not if I say I found your Death Note."

"He won't believe that." Andrew said. "He's paranoid of me now. If you talk to him, he'll just kill you."

"I don't believe that Steven would kill me!" Zito shouted, throwing the Death Note at Andrew's feet. "He's my best friend and I don't think he could just kill me, or Luke, or anyone. I don't think he could really kill you either!"

Katlynn glared at the ground. She used to think the same way as Zito. In a way she still did. This was Steven they were talking about. Would he really kill all of them? She just couldn't see that happening. Was Andrew really the paranoid one?

Andrew and Zito glared at each other for a few minutes in silence. Andrew didn't seem to be able to come up with anything else to say and Zito looked like he was close to breaking down.

He looked at the clock. It was 3:14.

"Zito, this is about choosing between saving your life and the lives of your friends." Andrew said. "You need to do this. Steven has lied to you. You've seen for yourself how much of a liar he is. I've never lied to you. And I need your help."

Zito looked over at him and Andrew could see that his words were beginning to take a toll on Zito's mind.

"Alright." Zito sighed. "I'll see what I can do but I'm not killing him. I'll just…If he does anything that I think is suspicious I'll believe you but I just can't be—"

He froze in mid-sentence. Katlynn looked up and saw Zito stand up. Andrew also seemed to be frozen in place.

"Guys?" Katlynn asked.

Andrew picked up the Death Note and walked over to Zito, handing it to him. Katlynn stood up and looked between them in confusion. "Andrew, what are you doing?"

But Andrew said nothing. Both of them had a glazed over look in their eyes. Katlynn started to worry. This wasn't normal. "Andrew! Snap out of it!" She slapped him across the face but this seemed to have no affect on them."

Ryoku stared at the scene with wide eyes. "Looks like he did it…" he muttered.

Katlynn glared at him. "What are you talking about!?"

"They're both under the control of Steven's Death Note." Ryoku said. "I can recognize the symptoms."

"What are you talking about!?" Katlynn screamed, tugging at Andrew's sleeve but he wouldn't budge.

Andrew and Zito both turned and walked toward the front door, Zito holding the Death Note like it was a fragile piece of glass in his hands. Katlynn and the Hunter followed them out the door.

"Andrew!! STOP!!" Katlynn screamed.

"It's no use." Ryoku said. "They're both already dead."

Katlynn ignored him. This couldn't be true. The three of them got in the car while Ryoku stood in the doorway watching them go with a blank expression on his face. He seemed to be shock from what he'd seen. It was so unexpected. So Steven had used Zito after-all. After Zito had just gotten done standing up for his friend and saying that Steven would never kill him…

Katlynn got into the car with them and sat in the back seat. "Where are you going!" She demanded, hitting Andrew repeatedly on the back of his shoulder but nothing she was doing was having any sort of affect.

Andrew started up the car as Zito got into the passenger seat and they drove off down the road.

"Andrew!!!" Katlynn cried, tears falling down her cheeks. Andrew wasn't even driving right. He wasn't slowing down and was zooming through stop lights and cars as if they weren't there. He really wasn't himself.

Neither of them said a word as Katlynn continued to kick and scream in the back seat. When they drove past Hazen, Katlynn gave up and bent over crying into Andrew's shoulder.

"Please!" She begged. "If you love me you'll stop! Please! You don't have to do this!!"

How could this be happening? She didn't understand. What had Steven written to make them do this? How come she wasn't under control like them?

"Please, I'm begging you. Stop." Katlynn sobbed.

Andrew said nothing and swerved down the road with his foot flooring the gas pedal. Katlynn sniffed and looked around. She'd never been in this area before except for when they went to visit Zito from last year. They passed by an elementary school and a Dairy Queen until finally Andrew seemed to slow down and take a right.

Katlynn cried quietly as they drove down a gravel path by a construction yard and stopped in front of a small house with a massive forest in the back yard. This wasn't Zito's house. But then…

"No…" Katlynn muttered. "No! No!!!"

Zito opened the door and began to get out. She saw the front door of the house open and standing in the doorway was Steven. She could recognize him even from a distance. This was his house. Did he know she was there? Zito walked across the driveway toward him and placed the Death Note at his feet. It was true. This was all real. Steven had won.

"No! No! No!" She cried as Andrew drove off. She gave one last look at Zito walking down the road before he was out of sight and Andrew was driving at top speed back toward his house again.

"Andrew!! Do you know what you've just done!!!" She cried. "You have to know!! This isn't you! Steven has you in his control!! You can break free of this!!! GOD DAMN IT!!!"

She was beginning to regret not bringing Ryoku with her. If the Hunter had followed, then he would've been able to kill Steven's Death God right then and there…but what would be the point? Steven had both Death Notes now. It didn't matter what the Shinigami did. All that mattered was that Andrew was going to die if she didn't somehow bring him out of his trance.

"Andrew!! Wake up!!" Katlynn screamed as loud as she could.

When they got back to the house, it was 3:42. Andrew sat in the car, staring out the window without a trace of emotion on his face. Katlynn sat on his lap and sobbed into his shirt. He was still alive but he felt like a statue. Ryoku was nowhere to be seen.

"Please wake up!" She mumbled weakly into his shirt. "We can still stop this! You can live if you just wake up. Please…"

Andrew remained motionless as the clock ticked to 3:45.

He lurched forward, gasping for life and for a brief few seconds, Katlynn thought her begging had finally worked and that he would be alive. But there was foam escaping between his lips and his eyes were rolling into the back of his head.

"NO!!!! NO! NO! NO!!!" Katlynn cried out, holding onto him as he twitched repeatedly until he gave one last shuddering gasp and his body went rigid. That was when she knew. It was over. Andrew was dead.

260


	20. Funeral

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Twenty

Funeral

"It's true."

"Oh my god…"

"I can't believe it…"

"The funeral is this weekend, Saturday…"

"I'll go I guess."

"Yeah, me too."

It was Monday during break after second period. Steven was sitting at the table facing Cameron, Jacob and Baker. He'd just told them all about Zito's demise. It had been in the news that two high school students who went to Hazen both died simultaneously on Friday afternoon and that the murderer is most likely Kira. None of his friends besides Luke, who he told on Saturday, knew about Zito's death so he had to inform them of it himself.

"How'd he die?" Cameron asked with a frown.

"They're saying it was Kira…" Steven muttered, clutching his fists and glaring at the table.

"Andrew died too…" Baker muttered.

Steven looked up and was shocked to see that she was crying silently across the table from him. He'd anticipated this but played the role accordingly.

"I'm sorry, Baker…" He said. "You still liked him, right?"

"Not really, it's just…well…" Baker looked down at the table and wiped her eyes. "I'd always feel something for him, even if he did break my heart. And now that he's gone… It's just a weird feeling."

Jacob was staring at them all like he couldn't believe his ears. "Zito's dead, Andrew's dead…why would Kira kill them?"

"I don't know." Cameron sighed, rubbing his temple. "I thought about it…and maybe he or she, goes to this school. I mean, think about it. Ever since the beginning of the year, there were strange deaths all over the school. Random kids were dying earlier on, remember?"

"Yeah…" Steven nodded in agreement. "I was thinking of that too. But how could someone just kill people off like that?"

"And why Zito and Andrew?" Jacob frowned.

None of them had an answer for this except for Steven of course, but Steven knew how to act in front of them all. They wouldn't be suspicious of him. Yes, he'd acted strangely on Thursday and Friday but he'd explained that the reason for this was because he was pissed off with his parents and they hadn't asked him about it since.

"Does Luke know?" Cameron asked.

"Yeah, I told him after I found out." Steven said. "He didn't take it as bad as his parents did though…"

"Oh god." Cameron winced. "His dad must be feeling horrible right now."

Steven nodded and managed to pull off a broken hearted expression. He remembered on Saturday when he and Luke decided to go to Zito's house to see what they would be doing with his body. Zito's dad was a big guy with a loud voice and a tendency to get overemotional about some things. And when they got there they found him crying out to the heavens like a wounded wolf with his wife, Debbie, who was Zito's step-mom, holding him and crying as well.

It had been a sad day and they didn't stay for long. Only long enough to find out when the funeral was and where it was going to be held. As for Andrew's funeral, Steven had no interest in showing up there. Nor did anyone else, apparently. Even Baker said she wasn't going to go because Katlynn would probably be there and she wouldn't want to upset her even more with her presence.

Steven knew they were all in for a sad week, but despite how he was acting, he was truly enjoying everything. Once the funeral for Zito was over, there wasn't much more to look forward to except for his plans with the Death Note.

And not once at school so far had he spotted any signs of a Shinigami. Zando was at home, probably lounging around in his room eating bananas. Steven had one of his Death Notes inside his backpack, the other inside his room with his Death God. Katlynn, meanwhile, hadn't been spotted. And for the next few days, Steven wondered what she was up to and if he should be concerned about it or not.

Steven had decided that he would not use the Death Note he'd gotten from Andrew yet. He would rather use it for emergencies or for safe-keeping just in case. He'd carved a line on the inside wall of his backpack and stuffed it inside. That way if anyone ever decided to snoop through it, they would find only normal school notebooks and papers. And the carved hole was in the bottom so if someone were to try and dump everything out of it, the Death Note would stay hidden against the inside of the wall.

Steven decided to step it up a notch with his acts of Kira. Every day he would watch television and go online, find criminals and write their names in the Death Note. He wondered, briefly, why the news was still showing criminal's names and faces when they know that Kira was out there. They probably didn't want to risk pissing Kira off. If he could kill criminals, he could kill innocents as well whenever he wanted.

So on that Wednesday morning, the media was in a frenzy. Fifty criminals in each state of the U.S. had all died of Heart Attacks. The biggest amount of deaths in a day by Kira so far. So far. Steven and Zando watched the news before school that morning and laughed. He was back in business at last.

That Friday, Steven sat down in second period and got out his notes for Mrs. Shaunesty's class like they normally did. When he looked to see what was on the board, he froze for a split second at what he saw written.

_Class Discussion about "Kira"_

Steven smirked. Excellent. He hadn't prepared for this and he was wondering if he should give his honest opinion about Kira or if he should lie. Lying would be interesting but he decided that he would be able to talk more if he told the truth.

So when the rest of the class had settled in, Steven had already thought of what he was going to say and all that was left was to wait patiently.

Mrs. Shaunesty gave them all a fake smile like she usually did as she talked about the homework they had to do. "And if you've read what's on the board like you're supposed to then you'll know that we're going to be having a group talk about quote, unquote Kira."

Steven frowned. He didn't like the way she did the bunny fingers when she said Kira's name. It made her look like she didn't actually believe that Kira was real and the way she smiled as she talked about how the media gave him the name just to cast fear to the public made him want to strangle her.

"So is his name actually Kira?" a girl asked once they were all facing each other in a circle on top of their desks.

"No." a guy named Brian answered. "It's more like a title."

"Oh, Okay."

"What I want to know is how Kira kills people." Brian said.

Mrs. Shaunesty spoke so quickly it nearly knocked a few people off their desks who were sitting next to her. "We are not here to talk about that, the topic is whether or not what "Kira" is doing justifiable or not."

Steven raised his hand.

"Yes, Steven?"

"I think…" Steven paused with a frown on his face. "That what this Kira guy is doing is justifiable. I mean, think about it. He's only been killing criminals, and most of them are criminals on Death Row. I think what he's doing might be…wrong but the reason why he's doing it is good. For the greater good, yah know? So yeah, I think it's justifiable."

"How is an eye for an eye justifiable?" The red haired boy named Kyle asked.

"Everything in this world comes down to what's the greater good." Steven said. "Abortion, war, immigration, whatever the topic is it all comes down to what's the greater good of them and Kira is just like that. Yeah, murder is wrong and all but, like I said, most of these people are people on death row. And if you've been paying attention to the news, crime rates across the whole country have dropped by 35 in the past month. I think Kira, whoever he is, is trying to stop crimes and make society a better place."

"I agree." Brian said. "I mean, why do you think we go to war? We kill people so that we can make the world a better place for everyone and however Kira kills people, like Steven said, he's doing it for the greater good."

Across the room from Steven, Jennie raised her hand and he felt his gut clench. He was surprised that he had never once thought about what her opinion on this issue was.

"Yes, Jennie?" Mrs. Shaunesty addressed her.

"I think what Kira is doing is definitely not right." She said and her voice shook when she said this. "I mine, I personally believe that everyone deserves forgiveness and this Kira person is dealing out deaths like he's god and I don't think that's right. Humans shouldn't be able to do that kind of things, that's not why we're here. We're here to make decisions and if people make the wrong decisions in life then I think they should be given a chance at forgiveness."

And for the first time, Steven felt a surge of anger toward her. Without raising his hand, he said "Some people don't deserve forgiveness."

Jennie looked at him, almost surprised to see that he was disagreeing with her. But he went on anyway.

"There are people out there who truly enjoy killing. Mass serial killers. Sadistic, mentally instable people. They enjoy doing what they do and don't want forgiveness and I think anyone who ends up on Death Row like those people have basically given up their right to be forgiven, even by God."

"That's enough, Steven." Mrs. Shaunesty said.

"This isn't just about forgiveness; it's about what's morally right and wrong." Jennie shot back. The class was looking between the two as if unable to believe that they would argue. The loudest and the quietest people in the class arguing about something like this?

"Everyone has morals." Steven said, even though the voice inside his head was screaming to stop arguing with her. "But people will always have to make a choice about what's right and what's wrong and if doing something that's "morally" wrong in order to do something good, something that is worth doing what's wrong in order to achieve, then that's doing it for the greater good."

"Killing people is murder. It you a criminal, no matter how you look at it." Jennie said, getting a little more heated. "Kira is just a hypocrite who thinks that he can play God but nobody can play God."

"Jennie! Steven! Both of you stop this nonsense or you'll both receive detentions immediately." Mrs. Shaunesty shouted, standing up and glaring at both of them.

Steven glared at her now, almost happy to look away from Jennie's upset expression. "You said we were supposed to talk about whether or not what Kira is doing is good or bad."

"Yes, but discussing and arguing are two different things." The teacher snapped.

"The only difference is the tone of voice. If people are smart enough they can argue and be intelligent at the same time." Steven said. "There's no harm in arguing if it stays on topic and we're not making fun of each other's moms."

The class giggled a little at this and Steven dared to look at Jennie. She wasn't looking at him but she had a small smile on her face.

"Go outside right now." Mrs. Shaunesty commanded suddenly, shoving her finger toward the door as if he needed direction.

Steven rolled his eyes, grabbed his backpack, and hopped off the desk. When he was outside, he leaned against the railing of the portable and looked up into the sky, releasing a long sigh from his nose. What was the matter with him? Getting into a heated argument…and with Jennie of all people. What if she hated him now? What if she thought he was just an idiot? He had no idea she felt so strongly against Kira.

Mrs. Shaunesty came outside a minute later and scolded him for arguing before letting him come back inside. He sat down and listened to the class discussion but didn't say anything. Nothing anyone was saying was anything new or interesting so he decided to doodle on some paper absentmindedly.

When the bell rang and he got up to leave, Jennie approached him.

"Hey." He said, a little awkwardly.

"It's a good thing Mrs. Shaunesty stopped us." Jennie said. "I was just about to start making fun of your mom."

And instantly he knew things were still good between him. They both grinned and walked out the door together, Steven feeling glad that he hadn't screwed things up with her.

It was Saturday and Steven was wearing his best suit for Zito's funeral. He was going with Luke's family because his parents were both busy. And Amanda didn't know Zito well enough to care.

So when he arrived at Luke's house, he found that everyone was already dressed in black and ready. Steven was the only one without a tie and had to have Luke's mom help him get one wrapped around his neck.

"God, these things are uncomfortable." He muttered when they got in the van.

"You get used to it." Luke said.

It was only a fifteen minute drive before they pulled into a place called "Overgrove Cemetery". They parked and Steven got out with Luke, his two sisters, and his parents. Together they walked underneath a huge, marble arc that had the words "Gone but not forgotten" written on a plaque across the front.

Steven could see Zito's father in the distance with Debbie and Zito's brothers, Jeremy and Jason, standing in the circle talking with about twenty others. Steven saw Cameron and his twin brother, Bryce, talking to Catheryne Baker next to them. Steven and Luke immediately went and joined them.

"Jacob couldn't be here." Cameron said. "He had to work."

"That sucks." Steven sighed.

"Ah, I haven't seen Jacob in forever." Luke grunted.

"It's not like you're going to spar with him in-between the graves." Bryce grinned.

"Well, no shit."

"The ceremony is going to start, I think." Baker said quietly.

Steven looked away from the group and could see a coffin be herded through a crowd toward the burial site in-between two tall graves that had crosses above them. They all went and joined the rest of the group following the coffin before they finally came to a stop and took their seats.

The clouds seemed to reflect the moods of most of the people at the funeral. They were dark and grey and looked like they were about to rain. Steven was sitting in front row next to Luke and Jeremy looking at the closed coffin knowing that their friend was lying in there somewhere.

Steven felt no guilt for what he did. But he did feel guilty about hiding it from Zito's family. Seeing his dad sob like that was something he never could've imagined.

A man in blue and black robes was standing over the grave reading from the bible. Steven paid no attention to it and instead looked down at his feet. Rain finally started to fall from the sky. At first it was only a shower, but soon they were being drenched in it as the man finished and the coffin began to lower into the grave.

Zito's dead let out a roar of sadness as it happened. Steven watched the scene as if it were in slow motion. The darkness around them. The rain falling. Sad faces of people he didn't recognize. Zito's family crying in agony. The coffin lowering. All of this was Steven's fault. He'd caused this.

And then Zito was gone.

260


	21. Greater Good

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Twenty One

Greater Good

December. No snow. Washington wasn't exactly known for is upheaval in winter weather when Christmas time came around so when Steven woke up one bright, white morning he was surprised to see the reflection of the snow outside his window.

"So this is snow?" Zando observed.

"Yeah." Steven sighed, putting on his shoes and black, ratty sweatshirt. He would need to get a new one of these soon. There was a hole growing on both sides by the pockets. How the hell had that happened anyway?

"You seem troubled." Zando grinned.

Steven looked around to make sure his sister wasn't in the vicinity. "Well, Katlynn hasn't shown her face since Andrew's death. Neither has that hunter. I haven't seen either of them in the past two weeks."

"You think they teamed up or something?" Zando asked.

"Maybe. But it wouldn't do much. I have both Death Notes." Steven stood up and slipped on his beanie over his now reasonably long, black hair which was still sopping wet from the shower he'd taken that morning.

"It's too bad that Zito kid didn't have a will." Zando scratched his chin. "I'll bet he would've given you his ipod or something."

Steven shrugged, not really wanting to talk about Zito. At school, he'd played the part of the angry best friend whenever Cameron, Jacob, or Baker brought up Zito's name. He would frown and get really quiet. They'd all taken notice of this and decided not to talk about Zito in front of him. Exactly what Steven wanted. He didn't like thinking of how he'd betrayed his best friend. He didn't feel guilty, but he still had a small twinge in his head whenever his name was brought up.

_Greater Good, Greater Good_, He always told himself.

When he got to school and sat down at the table for morning break, Jacob and Baker were already there talking happily again. Another side-affect about Zito's death had been the silence between them all. Nothing really seemed funny and if they laughed, their laugh seemed a bit half-hearted.

But nowadays things were getting better. Steven smiled as Jacob pretended to hit on Baker and Baker obliged. As they talked, he noticed something that made his heart jolt. Jennie was sitting at the table next to them, alone, and hunched over a notebook.

_Jennie? Sitting alone? Studying?_ The three just didn't seem to add up and he was suddenly rushed with a great feeling that he should stand up and go join her. But Steven remained seated, as if some unknown force was holding him back. Why not go talk to her?

"Hey guys…" Cameron muttered mournfully.

"What's up, Cameron?" Jacob asked in a mock-tone.

Cameron sighed, as if dreading what he was about to say "I just found out that Katlynn committed suicide last week."

Jacob spat apple juice over the table. All thoughts of Jennie were wiped from Steven's mind with this new piece of information and in an instant, everything seemed to make sense again.

"Why'd she do that?" Jacob asked.

"Because Andrew just died." Baker muttered.

Steven felt a great surge of guilt and anger. How could Katlynn be so idiotic? She really, truly believed that she was in love with him. She was just another puppet in Andrew's closet. That fool! But at the same he time was a bit relieved. Katlynn being dead seemed to take off a small weight over his shoulders. There was nothing left to worry about now except for his Death Note business.

"I can understand why she did it, though." Baker sighed. "When Andrew broke up with me again and told me how he'd just used me…"

Steven glared at Baker, having a feeling he knew what she was going to say.

Baker shifted uncomfortably under his glare. "What?"

"Suicide is never understandable." said Steven angrily.

"I dunno." Jacob said indecisively. "I mean…"

"People who commit suicide most likely deserve it." He said. "For not being smart enough to find help. Not being smart enough to make their lives better… If they can't get over their problems, no matter how great the problem is, then they might as well kill themselves because they're just a waste to society."

"Bush!" Baker said in shock as it sudden ferocity.

"I'm serious." Steven said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. "I mean, who honestly in their right mind can actually kill themselves? Most people who go through with it end up regretting their decision right before they die because they realize that they're afraid to die and that they just let their emotions get the better of them. Those kinds of people are just immature idiots. And Katlynn is no different."

Silence fell upon the table. Baker, Jacob and Cameron probably all didn't want to anger Steven further by arguing with him and figured he was obviously still upset about Zito's death. This was, of course, exactly what Steven was going for. He wanted to throw off any possible future suspicions that he could've had anything to do with Andrew or Zito's deaths. And by acting emotional about it was a good way to do this. Now if they could only start talking about Kira so he could deliver the finishing blow by hating on Kira's philosophy.

The bell rang and Steven was suddenly struck with the realization that he was going to go sit next to Jennie. He looked at her and saw that she was already gone. _Damn it…_ He thought, cursing himself and hoping that she hadn't heard him arguing. He didn't know what she thought about suicide.

The phone rang and Steven answered it. Of course, he already had an idea who it was before he even had a chance to answer it. For the past week, since Zito's funeral, Dez had been calling him every day. She had just broken up with her boyfriend, Danny (But not before cheating on him) and now she was going out with the boy she had cheated on him with, Joey.

Steven was seriously getting sick of talking to Dez on the phone every day. She made him feel obligated to talk to her and it wasn't something he enjoyed. He had much more pressing matters to attend to, such as the going online to find criminals to kill. But no. He was stuck here talking to Dez about her trivial issues.

"So your mom is making it so that you can't have a boyfriend until you move out, huh." Steven sighed. "And Joey doesn't understand that and wants to take you away for himself somewhere. Sounds like an asshole to me. Oh wait, and on top of that you're sleeping with him and you think you might be pregnant."

"Yeah." Dez sniffed.

Steven wanted to yell.

"Well, honestly, I think you should just break up with Joe."

"But…what if I am pregnant?"

Then you shouldn't be such a horny dumbass. That's what Steven wanted to say but somehow managed to suppress his irritability.

Instead, he said "If you're pregnant, would your family support you at all?"

"I don't know." Dez muttered. "They might. But I don't think they'd be happy knowing I was seeing Joey against their rules."

"Well you really screwed yourself up, huh, Dez." Steven sighed, rubbing his temple. "Sorry… But do you even like Joey?"

"Yeah, kinda…"

Kinda? What kind of response is that? Who is seriously irresponsible enough to sleep with someone if they only "Kinda" like them?

"Have you told Luke any of this?" Steven asked.

"No." Dez said, a little firmly.

"Why not?"

"He…wouldn't understand. He'd just get mad at me…"

"Do you still like Luke?" Steven asked bluntly, skipping the semantics.

Silence on the other line. He waited, a little impatiently, until she finally said "Yeah—Sort of—I don't know…"

God this girl is confused. Steven forced himself to keep going.

"Do you want to know what I think you should do?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Dump Joey. Do what you want with the baby—if there is a baby. Do your job as much as you can and get as much money as you can. Don't waste the money, save it up so that when you move out, you move out prepared. And finally, talk to Luke about this and see what he has to tell you because I honestly think he'd take you back as long as you don't break his heart again." Steven finished and Dez said nothing for a little while but sniffed feebly.

"I can't just…do all that." Dez muttered.

_Why, because you're weak?_

"Why?"

"Because if the baby is Joey's…He has the right to be the father…"

Steven blinked. "You want to keep the baby?"

More silence. "Yeah…"

Dez was hopelessly screwed then. Steven ran his hand over his face and a sudden idea struck him. Dez was screwed. There was no doubt about that. She wasn't willing to save herself from misery. Steven couldn't help but think of his suicide speech this morning. People who aren't willing to save themselves don't deserve to live at all. And Dez wasn't smart enough to save herself.

Of course, he wasn't going to tell her that she should go kill herself. No. Steven looked at the Death Note. He was going to save her instead. Save her from a life of misery and pain.

"Dez." Steven said, picking up the Death Note. "Would you want anything to escape from all of this? To just get away from all this misery that you're in?"

Dez sniffed. "Yeah…"

"What if I told you I can help you escape?" Steven asked, grabbing the nearest pen and resting it against the front page.

"How would you do that?" Dez asked.

"I'll tell Luke that you still loved him." Steven said. "Don't worry.

"What?" Dez, indeed, sounded worried. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry that you can't help yourself, Dez." Steven said, eyeing the clock. "But I have to take your life into my own hands now."

"What are you going to do?" Dez asked. "Steve?"

"It's for the greater good." Steven said. "You'll be happy soon."

"Steve. What are you—?"

Silence. Steven listened quietly and heard a thump on the other side of the floor. He smiled sadly, looking down at the Death Note's first page where, written in blue ink, was:

"_Desirea Hungerford commits suicide at 7:30 PM."_

Steven looked at the clock. It was 7:30 pm exactly.

10


	22. Interrogation

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Twenty Two

Interrogation

It must've been a rough couple of weeks for his friends, Steven thought. Zito dying affected the group at school, Andrew's death had affected Baker, and Katlynn had committed suicide. And now, on top of all this, Dez was dead. And Luke was miserable.

Steven went over to his house that weekend, pretending like there was nothing wrong. When he went inside, Luke told him what happened, about how Dez had killed herself but Steven already knew what he had to do. He acted shocked—mortified, by this news. And after hearing Luke talk for about an hour and lay his misery on him, Steven consoled him by saying "Last time I talked to her…she said she still loved you."

Luke stayed quiet after this and Steven decided he would leave him alone for the rest of the day. With Luke depressed and Zito dead, there was nobody in the neighborhood to hang out with so he went back home where he found Zando awaiting him in his room.

"How'd it go?" Zando asked.

"Fine." replied Steven, taking off his ratty, old sweatshirt and throwing it on the floor. "He'll be over it in a week."

"You've done a lot, lately—" Zando said. "—Killing off your friends and such."

"It had to be done." Steven shrugged.

"Don't you think people will start to notice?" Zando asked.

"I figured. But I'm not worried."

"Why?"

"Because they have no way to prove that I did anything unless they find my Death Note. And that won't happen." said Steven simply, deciding to get up and get a glass of milk from the kitchen.

Zando followed him as he opened the refrigerator.

"How do you know nobody will find it?"

"Because I got one here." Steven said. "And the other safely hidden in my backpack. So unless someone literally puts there hands around the inside of my backpack and finds the small crevasse I made there then I'm as safe as can be. To everyone else, I'm just a guy who lost his best friend and a few others. Besides, I doubt anyone out there will take notice of a few students dying when across the nation there are hundreds of criminals dying every other day."

"There sure are a lot of criminals out there." Zando sighed.

"By the end of the year, I plan to be done with most of them." Steven said, pouring milk into a glass. It was nice to be able to talk to the Shinigami in the rest of his house. Amanda was at her friend's house and his parents were still at work.

"What are you going to do next?" Zando asked.

Steven sipped his milk, looking up at the clock in silence. "Kira has become a phenomenon." He said. "People are taking him seriously, Kira's Fist is starting to get larger and form rallies in D.C. And from what I hear, one of the senators running for office next year supports Kira so there'll be a lot of controversy in the media. In a year— maybe two— people will stop wanting to catch Kira and accept that he is the new God of our time. That is what I plan to do."

"But how are you going to do that? Just by killing off criminals and those who get in your way?" Zando asked.

"I'll slowly increase the amount of criminals. It'll be difficult for me because I am finding it hard to have time to get online a lot lately but it should be fine." Steven sighed. In a way, it was a little bit easier to have Andrew as a partner. He had a computer and had police reports that he could read. He wished he could've made Zito bring that stuff over along with the Death Note before he'd died but it was too late. By now, Andrew's stuff would be long gone who knows where. "After I increase the rate of criminal deaths, I'll start focusing on killing those who have lesser crimes on their record and aren't on Death Row. That will lower the crime rate even further. People will be afraid to go to jail and with that fear I'll create a world of peace."

"Tyrant, eh?" Zando said, grabbing a banana.

"No." Steven said firmly. "Fear is a good way to make the world better. Some might argue this but in the end, the fear will go away and people will accept Kira like they accept religion or government as a part of their lives. It will develop into something greater. Much greater."

"Exciting." Zando muttered, swallowing the banana whole.

"For Christmas, I'm going to ask my parents for a Lap top, that's all I want." Steven said. "If I just ask for one thing, they'll buy it for me. And if they aren't persuaded that easily, I'll offer to sell my Xbox and Playstation. I don't need pointless things like those anymore."

"Why would you need a laptop?" Zando asked curiously.

"Isn't it obvious?" Steven smirked. "Every afternoon I'll be able to go online and look up news websites and find criminal names and faces and I'll be able to write them down immediately after I find them."

"No wonder you don't do your school work." Zando grinned. "With all this Death Note stuff you sure have your hands tied."

"I'm fine. I love writing." said Steven, a little tirelessly as he finished his milk and put his cup in the sink.

Steven went to school that Monday feeling refreshed. Zando was still at home, however. He'd decided that just because Andrew and Katlynn were dead didn't mean that Ryoku wouldn't still try and find Zando and Steven needed Zando just in case someone else with a Death Note arrived and tried to hunt him down.

But Steven didn't see Ryoku anywhere he went. There was a chance, he knew, that Ryoku was a good hunter and knew how to hide himself from sight but Steven couldn't be sure.

Steven received a shock, however, when he entered second period and saw a man sitting next to Mrs. Shaunesty behind her desk. He had long blonde hair that was tied into a pony-tail behind his head and he wore a black suit. Very official looking. Steven could even spot a pen sticking out of his chest pocket. Who was this guy?

He decided to ignore the man and take a seat in the third row. Predictably, Garret and Worawat came and joined him on either side like he was their leader and he felt a sense of weightlessness when he saw Jennie walk right past them to sit in the front row. He silently wondered whether or not it would be safe to kill off the two boys sitting on either side of him so he wouldn't have to put up with their pathetic, almost dog-like, obedience to him. But that _would_ cause a little too much unwanted attention.

The class started and Steven saw the official looking man remain seated while Mrs. Shaunesty told the class to do their daily trivia questions up on the board. Steven did them quickly and sighed, deciding that he would ignore the man unless directly asked about him. Sure, he looked calm, but inside he was filled with panic. He had an idea where this man was from and why he was there.

"This is Mr. Redman." Mrs. Shaunesty introduced. "He works for the Government of Washington and is here to observe with some of his colleagues. Consider him an inquisitor. And if he asks you questions don't be afraid to answer them."

Steven was right. This man was from the government. But why?

Jennie raised her hand.

"Yes, Jennie?" Mrs. Shaunesty asked.

But Jennie addressed Mr. Redman instead. "Why are you here?"

Steven looked up at Redman and saw that he was wearing a dark frown upon his face. "There's no point beating around the bush. I'm here to investigate Kira."

Steven felt his heart jolt in his chest. So it was true after-all. Somehow, someone out there saw that there had been a few deaths surrounding Hazen High School. Steven suppressed the urge to break his pencil in half. So the Government wasn't as stupid as he'd thought. They'd noticed that students were dying. Steven cursed himself and whoever else was out there smart enough to realize such a small detail.

There were a few gasps of shock from the crowd of students and Mrs. Shaunesty was glaring at Mr. Redman as if he'd swore very loudly in front of her.

"Kira? _The_ Kira?" Big Mac asked.

"Yes." Redman nodded.

"Why here?" Another student asked.

Mr. Redman ignored the squirming look of impatience from Mrs. Shaunesty and went on. "As you all know, there have been a few suspicious deaths surrounding this school. There might be a chance, a very small chance, that Kira is actually—"

"That's enough, Mr. Redman." Mrs. Shaunesty snapped.

"We can't do our investigation on these students unless they know what we're investigating." Redman told her calmly. "It's within their rights to know the truth. You're a government teacher, you should know this."

If it wasn't for the fact that he was here to find him out, Steven probably would've liked Mr. Redman, especially for silencing Mrs. Shaunesty in her own classroom. But he was an enemy. Steven could see it in his shining, blue eyes. And from what he said, he wasn't the only man here searching for him. The Government must have formed a team to search and investigate the students. But how would they do something like that? Would they interrogate them one by one throughout the day? Or simply observe their actions. Steven hoped it was the latter. He didn't like the idea of having to go into a room alone with Redman and act like the scared and alone boy who'd lost his best friend to Kira. If anything, Steven was already a prime target for interrogation.

"We have reason to believe that Kira is one of you." Redman said.

The class froze in their places, all staring up at the government official in silence. Redman took this as a chance to go on.

"It is my understanding that a boy by the name of…" He paused and went looking through a chart that he had been hiding behind his back this whole time. "Sean Church killed himself in this class a couple months ago?"

Steven frowned as a few people shuddered from the memory of Sean standing up and stabbing himself in front of them all.

"Please, Mr. Redman, aren't you being a little…" Mrs. Shaunesty began.

"Please, Mrs. Shaunesty, be silent." Mr. Redman interrupted. "I want to hear from the students as a whole before I take them outside to ask them questions."

So Steven was right. He felt a miserable squirm in his stomach. He was going to interview them. No, interrogate them was the better word. He looked at the clock. He wouldn't have time to interrogate all of them in one period. Would he?

"About Sean Church, he stood up and announced that he hated his life and killed himself on the spot?" Redman asked bluntly to the class, looking through his charts and peering up at them all with narrowed eyes.

A few students nodded. Steven remained quiet, deciding that the best way to get out of this would be to act like the quiet, frightened one who didn't want anything to do with what was going on. He hated acting that way.

Brian, however, decided to be the talker. "Yes, that's true." He said.

"Did any of you know he was going to do something like this?" Redman asked.

"What do you mean?" Brian asked. Steven remembered that Brian and Sean used to be friends.

"Did he give off any signs of depression before this incident?" Redman asked.

"Incident?" Garret muttered at Steven's side darkly.

"No, he was actually acting normal and happy." Brian shrugged. "He was planning to join fast-pitch as soon as the season was over and he was pretty excited about it…I cant' see why he would want to kill himself."

"I see." Redman said, writing something on the clipboard. "That's all I need to know from the whole. What's your name?"

"Brian." Brian answered.

"Come outside with me for a minute." Redman said, standing up and walking beside the aisle of desks.

Brian, hesitantly at first, stood up and followed him. Steven heard the door open and close and then there was silence.

"What a horrible man." Mrs. Shaunesty muttered with distaste.

"I think he's brilliant." Sarah Schmidt said, sitting next to Jennie in front.

"I don't care what you think, it's not important." Mrs. Shaunesty snapped. "What's important now is that we discuss chapters 20 through 22 in your books."

The class ended and Mr. Redman was only able to go through half of the class. Steven had been, apparently, lucky enough not to have been called on or addressed whenever Redman had returned from outside. He'd interrogated Big Mac, Brian, Jennie, Sarah, and Worawat along with a few others but Steven had been spared.

He cast one last glimpse of the man and saw him stacking papers and talking in a hushed voice to Mrs. Shaunesty. She stilled looked quite mad at being silenced in her own classroom but they looked civil this time. They weren't biting at each other's throats, anyway…

"I can't believe they think Kira could be at our school." Cameron muttered when Steven took a seat at the table during break.

"Did you have a guy in your class too?" Steven asked.

"Yeah. Every class has one, I think."

"They asked me about Andrew." Baker said uncomfortably.

"What kind of questions?" Steven asked with a frown.

"Just stuff like…what my relationship with him was and how good of friends I was with him." Baker muttered. "I think they looked at all of our backgrounds or something to see who hung out most often with the kids that died."

"They think Kira killed Andrew?" Jacob asked, apparently shocked.

"Of course." Steven sighed. "With so many criminals dying out there and Hazen being the only school in Washington with so many deaths…Someone was bound to get suspicious."

"Does that mean we're all suspects?" Cameron asked, gulping. "Because we were friends with Andrew and Zito?"

"Don't forget Katlynn." Baker reminded him. "They probably think Kira made her kill herself or something…" And suddenly she slammed her hands down on the table in frustration. "How the hell is all of this happening?!"

They all stared at her, dumbstruck. Baker wasn't usually the type to have outbursts.

"It's not fair." Steven told her. "But it'll pass."

"If I ever met this Kira person I'd…" Baker grunted and crossed her arms, resisting the temptation to show any more of her anger to the group.

When break time ended, Steven went to third period wondering if he would see another government official there. Instead, however, he saw Mr. Redman standing next to Mr. Mjelli talking and laughing as if they were old friends by the table saw.

Steven frowned. Something about this wasn't right. Baker said each class had one government official in it, but then why was Mr. Redman here instead of staying with Mrs. Shaunesty? And then he remembered what Cameron had said about how they were all prime suspects for being friends with some of Kira's victims. Redman was _following_ Steven. But then why didn't he ask him to come outside during second period? None of this was adding up.

"Mr. Leitch." Redman said curtly, catching Steven's attention unexpectedly.

"Yes?" Steven asked, pulling off a look of curious innocence.

"I was meaning to talk to you but I figured you wouldn't want to be bothered right away." Redman said, approaching him.

Steven frowned. "You suspect me?"

"Of course." Redman said. At least he was blunt and honest. But Steven couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by this man. He was tall, young, and had a hard, determined face. Now that he was closer, Steven could see a small scar across his forehead.

"Where would you like to talk?" Steven asked.

"Does outside work for you?" Redman asked, gesturing to the open garage door in the back of the woodshop classroom. Steven nodded and followed Redman through the underway of the door.

"I'll have your student back to you in a moment, Mr. Mjelli." Redman called to the teacher when he saw a look of protest upon his face at the sight of Steven leaving the room.

Steven leaned against the brick wall and crossed his arms, looking up at Redman with an unsure expression. This was it. He was going to have to act good enough to fool him. But Redman didn't look like he could be easily fooled.

"It's Steven, right?" Redman addressed him. "Can I call you Steve?"

"Friends call me Wemo." Steven smirked, almost a little defiantly. Wemo was a nickname given to him but Luke a long time ago combining werewolf with emo.

"Wemo?" Redman raised an eyebrow, almost a little amused.

"You can call me Steve." said Steven, a cold smile on his lips.

"You're saying I can't be your friend?" Redman smirked back.

"You want to be?"

"I'm not here to be your friend."

"Exactly. So what are you here for?"

"I'm the one who asks questions." Redman said, his smirk flickering slightly. Only slightly.

"Then ask away. I have a project I'd like to get done today." Steven told him.

"Joshua Zito." Redman began. "He was your friend, correct?"

Steven stared at him for a moment. "Yes. How do you know?"

"We're the government." said Redman boastfully. "And teachers—believe it or not—keep files on you and who your friends are so they know how to talk to you better when there's a problem."

"I usually don't get into trouble so I didn't think they'd have a file like that for me." Steven shrugged.

"Well they do." Redman said. "Now about Josh—"

"You think that I had something to do with my best friend dying?" Steven asked, his icy tone growing thicker by the second.

Redman studied him for a moment. "Andrew Craddock is also marked as a friend of yours. And they both died on the same day. This strikes me suspicious. And then less than a week later, Andrew's girlfriend supposedly commits suicide."

"What do you mean "Supposedly"?" Steven asked.

"What we mean is we don't think it was entirely her choice. Kira could be behind her death as well." Redman said.

Steven could see where this was going. Mr. Redman was trying to trap him. Steven decided he would pretend to fall for it, but not completely.

"Why would Kira want to kill all of my friends?" Steven asked.

"Why indeed." Redman said, raising his stiff eyebrows and staring down at him with his bright, blue eyes.

Steven paused. "I wouldn't kill my friends. If I was this Kira, then I would be smart enough to know not to draw so much attention to myself."

"Unless of course you were so confident in yourself that you could escape from being caught." Redman smirked again. "Assuming you were Kira, of course."

Redman thought he was winning. But Steven had him right where he wanted him to be. Steven's frown darkened as he uncrossed his arms.

"If I were Kira, how would I go around killing people?" He asked.

"I don't know." Redman admitted. "That's what we're hoping to find out. Do you believe in God, Mr. Leitch?"

Steven blinked, not expecting such an abrupt question.

"Yes." He decided to tell the truth.

"Do you think this is all really God's will?" Redman crossed his arms this time.

"No." Steven answered. "If God would do something like this, he wouldn't have let crime happen in the first place. All of this Kira crap would've happened a long time ago. And I don't believe that God is a prick, either."

"You believe Kira is a prick, then?" Redman's smirk turned into a grin of amusement.

"He killed my best friend!" Steven shouted.

The two of them stared at each other. Redman seemed to have gotten his answer. "Alright." He said, looking down. "You can go back to your class."

"Do you believe in God, Mr. Redman?" Steven asked, before he went inside.

"No." Redman said. "I'm an atheist to the core."

"I figured." Steven muttered.

"Why's that?"

"I could tell when you asked me about my beliefs that you think God is a joke." said Steven blankly, turning away from him.

"You're right about that." Redman laughed. "But Kira is no joke."

"And yet you're laughing." Steven sighed.

Steven left Redman standing outside looking at the garage door with a satisfied smile on his face. "Interesting kid." He muttered, turning to walk back to Mrs. Shaunesty's classroom.

Steven finished the rest of the day ignoring the government officials walking around the hallways and watching the classrooms and interviewing some of the students. Steven was never questioned again. And none of them seemed to have the intimidating or friendly appearance like Mr. Redman did. Steven knew his performance had paid off. And he felt somewhat at ease on the bus ride home.

When he stepped off with his sister and walked toward their house, Steven could see flashing, blue lights down the road by his house. His stomach lurched at the sight and he froze in the middle of the road.

"What's that?" Amanda asked.

"The Police…" Steven muttered.

"What? Why are they here?"

Why _were_ they here? Steven ran down the road and stopped in front of the police cars. And to his horror, he saw that the big, glass window in front of his house had been broken. Steven could see shattered glass everywhere inside of his family room. Someone had broken in his house.

25


	23. RedJK

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Twenty Three

Red.J.K.

A police officer saw Steven and Amanda approaching them and waited patiently by the car. He could see the looks of shocks on their face and knew they must be the ones who lived here.

"What happened?" Amanda demanded first.

"We got a call from your neighbor. Said that they heard breaking noises outside." The cop started. Steven frowned, glaring at the broken window where he could see the inside of his family room. His immediate thought was that something had been stolen. But nobody had ever broken into their house before.

"When we got here—" The police officer went on. "—the window was broken. There was nobody in the house."

"So they got away…" Steven muttered darkly.

"Is anything stolen?" Amanda asked stupidly.

"We…don't know." The cop raised a burly eyebrow. He was a big guy, African, and had a nice bristly mustache to make up for the bald head. "We were waiting for someone to get home."

"It's a good thing mom wasn't home for break today." Amanda sighed, clutching at her chest. "She had a field trip with her kids at the—um—Kindercare."

The cop didn't look like he needed information. Instead, he led them both down the driveway through the house.

"Do you have any idea who it could be?" Steven demanded.

"There have been a few petty thefts in this area lately, but when I say "petty", I mean they stole things from the yard like a lawn mower or a car's gas—nothing big. This is the first actually Break in we've seen in about three months around here."

"So in other words you don't have a clue." Steven sighed with disappointment.

They looked around the family room but Steven desperately wanted to investigate his room and see Zando so he could find out exactly who had broken in and what had happened. It occurred to them there was a chance it was the Hunter but he doubted this for two reasons. One, Ryoku didn't know where he lived and two, as a Shinigami he could simply faze through the glass instead of breaking in. Whoever did this was definitely a human.

The television was still there. The china cabinet looked untouched. The coffee table, however, looked a little rearranged. Normally Steven kept all of the pictures he'd drawn all over it because he enjoyed drawing whenever he was watching television but now they were on the floor all over the place. Someone had shuffled through them, looking for something.

"Can't you get finger-prints or something off of these?" Amanda asked.

"We can, yes, assuming they weren't wearing gloves." The cop said.

"What about hair? Or _something_!?" Amanda cried out, running to her room to make sure everything was still there.

"Forgive her." Steven said. "She's easily shook-up."

"I understand." The cop sighed. "Does it look like anything was stolen to you?"

"Not in here." Steven said. "It's a mess but…everything that could've been stolen is still here."

"That's what I thought." The cop sighed. "What kind of guy breaks into a house and doesn't steal anything?"

Steven walked into the kitchen, gave it a quick glance around but everything was still there as well, before stepping into his bedroom to find it in complete disarray. His bed was his shambles. The curtains had been torn. The drawer full of clothes was in a mess. The clothes themselves were strewn about everywhere. The board games up in the top of his closet were now on the ground, covering the secret hatch that Zando had hidden in so many times. Zando, himself, however was nowhere to be seen and Steven felt a sudden weight of dread in his stomach and hoped that the Shinigami had remembered to hide in the ground in case something like this had happened.

He couldn't risk calling out to Zando. Instead, he thumped loudly on the floor a few times with his foot while the cop looked briefly into the bathroom.

As if on cue, Zando rose out from the board games looking fearful. "Thank god it's you." Zando said with relief.

Steven nodded his head to the cop to show that he couldn't say anything. Zando understood and fell silent. Steven looked over at the cop and thought of a hundred different ways to get rid of him so he could find out what happened himself, but none of them were very plausible.

"Find anything?" He asked.

"Nope. Everything looks normal." The policeman sighed. "When do your parents get home?"

Steven hated feeling like the cop was talking down to him, but he was. And his desire to kick him out intensified. "My dad will get here around five-o-clock. Do you want to leave and he could call you when he gets here?"

"I think it'd be safer to call him now and let him know." The cop said. "I don't want you kids here alone."

"I can handle myself." Steven said coldly.

The cop noticed his tone of voice and smirked. "I bet. I just want you to be safe just in case. So give me your dad's number and I'll call him up. Your mom, too."

Steven obliged, begrudgingly. He just wanted him gone. He couldn't think clearly with this cop here. He felt strangely naked now that he knew what it was like to have someone break in. He took the opportunity, while the cop was on the phone, to sneak into his room and look around.

"Where's the other Death Note?" Steven demanded in a hushed tone.

Zando looked worrisome. "I'm sorry, Steve." He said. "I forgot that it was in your drawer and hid before I could get it."

"Was the Hunter here?" Steven asked.

"I don't know. I didn't want to risk looking." Zando gulped.

_Idiot!_ Steven glared at the drawer and opened the one where he'd hidden his Death Note. And he felt a rush of relief that it was still there, hidden underneath all the clothes. So whoever had broken in either wasn't looking for the Death Note or they just didn't find it. Thank god.

"It's still here." He sighed.

"That's good." Zando grinned weakly.

But something just wasn't right. Who the hell would break into his house?

"Steven." The cop said suddenly.

"Yeah?" Steven looked up, not expecting to be addressed so suddenly.

"You better come take a look at this." The cop said, waving him over from across the kitchen. Steven and Zando, hidden from the policeman's view, followed him into the computer room.

Over on the desk everything was a mess. There were papers everywhere and a glue stick was sitting on top of them next to a blue pen.

"What do you think they were looking for?" The cop asked.

"I don't know." Steven shrugged, picking up the glue stick and pen. He looked at the computer. It was turned on. And so were the copier and printer. It seemed that whoever had broken in needed to use them for some strange reason. But none of it was clicking in his head. It didn't make any sense at all.

His dad came home about an hour later. So did his mom. They talked to the cop for about an hour after that until finally he left and they were stuck to clean up everything. Steven cleaned most of his room in silence with his door shut. He didn't want to talk to his family right now. Zando had failed him by not protecting the Death Note. He couldn't trust anyone anymore, damn it.

Steven lied down on his bed thinking. There was only one person he could think of that was still alive who would do this. That damn government official, Mr. Redman. He worked with the government; he could get away with crap like this. He was probably an expert. Breaking the law didn't matter to him as long as he found out who Kira was, that was probably his philosophy. The Greater Good. Same as him.

Redman was the only one who could've done this. He followed Steven because he was a prime suspect. Had the fact that he'd argued with him made him suspicious? Steven had been so sure that he'd fooled the man.

He took out the Death Note from inside his drawer and flipped it open. The front page still had Dez's name written on it. It was the only one written in pen so he couldn't erase it like he'd erased the others. If Redman had found this and went online to see if Dez was dead then Redman would know the power of the Death note. But then why didn't he take it with him? And why was Steven not being taken to jail? He must've not seen it, then. But still, none of it made sense.

"Damn it all." He grunted into his pillow.

"Stressful, eh?" Zando grinned.

"Shut up." Steven muttered. "I just need to think…"

He wanted to kill Redman right now, that bastard. He wanted to write his name in the Death Note and be done with it. But he knew this wasn't possible for many reasons. He didn't know his first name. And even if he did, if he killed him then whoever had made the team of officials would be able to narrow it down to who the killer was because the chances of the killer being a student Redman had interrogated would be high. Steven would only become more suspicious if Redman died.

_Damn, Damn, Damn!_ Steven punched his pillow.

"At least they didn't take the Death Note." Zando grinned. "You didn't lose."

"Yes I did." Steven growled and he explained to him about Mr. Redman. Zando still didn't seem to understand how he'd lost.

"I became suspicious enough for him to break in and trash my room." Steven said. "I don't know how many other kids had that happen to them yet but I'm willing to bet I'm the only one."

"Why would he suspect you, though?" Zando asked, scratching his chin.

"I don't know." Steven sighed. "Maybe I was too up front with him or something. I was probably the only one who snapped back at him. Everyone else would be too afraid to talk back to him because they wouldn't want to be accused of being Kira. I should've done that too but I couldn't help myself. That's how I lost."

"Well the game's still going." Zando said. "Everyone feels a sense of defeat every now and then."

"I won't lose again." Steven said. "I'll probably see Redman tomorrow and I'll bet he will try to talk to me again."

"What will you say?" Zando asked.

"He's gonna try and test me, of course." Steven said. "I already know what he'll try and do. If I don't tell him that my house was broken into and I act like everything is normal, then he'll think that I don't trust him and he'll be able to act off of that mistrust. But if I tell him that it was, then he'll ask me questions like "why would someone break into your house" and he would trap me like that."

"So then what will you say?" Zando asked.

Steven smirked. "The truth."

Steven expected to see Mr. Redman in second period again but when he walked inside he was surprised to find that this was not so. Luckily it didn't take long to figure out why. As soon as class started Mrs. Shaunesty started talking about how Redman had told her that he no longer needed to interrogate students in her class.

"Do you think he found out who the real Kira is?" Big Mac asked.

"Yeah right, Mac." the red-head, loud mouthed Kyle scoffed at his side. "It would be all over the news if that happened."

"Wouldn't that be weird if Kira really was in this class, though?" Sarah Schmidt said and Steven couldn't help but smirk, just a little bit.

He wondered for the rest of the class period where Mr. Redman was right now. He'd seen people in suits everywhere he went in the hallways and there were long, black cars in the parking lot that weren't normally there so he knew that the government was still investigating the school, just not this class in particular. But Redman had broken into his house, Steven was sure of this, which meant that she was especially suspicious of _him_. It was Redman's mistake, however, to think Steven was stupid. He was the type of man who thought that kids these days weren't very intelligent. He could tell by the way Redman had humored him in their conversation outside of the woodshop.

_The real reason he isn't here is because he's avoiding me for now. Doesn't want to cause a scene in front of everybody. But I know he'll try to find me eventually and test me. I'll be ready…_ Steven thought, glaring at the white board in front of the class as the lesson ended.

"Hey, Steve." Jennie said, approaching him suddenly. He'd been so focused on what he was doing with Mr. Redman he'd forgotten about her.

Steven had to force himself not to light up. "Oh, hi."

"I know I procrastinated this for so long." Jennie began, smiling. "But we still have to have that picnic and I've been thinking to myself when we could do it, and—" Steven was only half listening. The other half was admiring her and enjoying the way she sounded like he, personally, was involved in this picnic idea of hers too.

"So how does that sound?" Jennie asked.

"Huh?" Steven blinked. "Oh, great."

"Were you listening?" Jennie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course." Steven grinned, though his insides gave off an uncomfortable twist. "Uhm, when are we doing it?"

"I knew it." Jennie smirked.

_You have no idea…_ Steven thought happily.

"Tomorrow sound good?"

"Sounds good."

"Good."

And she walked away.

Steven found Mr. Redman about an hour later after third period. He was walking out of the portable when he saw him striding across the big, green stretch of grass that connected the portables to the main building. Steven felt a surge of disgust for the man when he saw him. Redman looked confident and was giving Steven a look that clearly said he had him pinned down and defeated.

"Hello, Mr. Redman." Steven greeted.

"Just the man I was looking for." Redman greeted as well. "I was hoping we could have another little talk."

"Of course." Steven said. "I was looking for you too."

"Huh?" Redman blinked and it was obvious he hadn't expected this. Though, he could also be a good actor. Steven wasn't sure yet. "What for?"

"It's obvious you think I'm Kira." Steven said and he knew from the look in his eyes that Redman hadn't expected this, at least not so quickly. "You want to talk to me so you can prove the idea more plausible, right?"

"I never said I thought you were Kira." Redman frowned.

"Then why do you want to talk to me?"

"Because I think I've figured out who the _real_ Kira is." Redman said and Steven felt a sudden jolt run up his spine. He'd not expected something like this. But Redman was surly lying.

"Why would you want to tell me that?" Steven asked darkly.

"Because after what you said yesterday, it's obvious you have strong feelings against Kira." said Redman, a look of pity on his face as if he were talking to someone who'd just lost a loved one at a funeral. "I want to show you who I think the _real_ Kira is. I want you to see for yourself so…So you can decide for yourself."

"Does this person go to our school?" Steven asked and they started walking back into the portable building, heading toward Mr. Goodboy's (The computer teacher) class.

"Yes." Mr. Redman said and looked a little grim for some reason. "This may come as a shock when you find out who it is. This is only suspicion, however, so please don't get mad when you see."

"Why would you think I'd get mad?" Steven asked.

"You'll find out shortly." Mr. Redman said, opening the door. Mr. Goodboy was nowhere to be found. Steven wondered, briefly, if Mr. Redman was somehow friends with all of the teachers except for, perhaps, Mrs. Shaunesty.

He led Steven across the empty classroom full of computers on desks to Mr. Goodboy's computer. He motioned for him to sit in the comfortable, red chair and Steven obliged a little hesitantly. Mr. Redman bent over, taking the mouse in his hand, and clicking a small folder in the "My Computer" tab. It brought up a screen full of different sub-folders and one of them was labeled "Red.J.K."

"Brace yourself." Redman said and Steven sensed that he was a little eager for what was about to come next. Steven focused on the screen as he clicked on Red.J.K He wondered, briefly, what it meant. Red was probably for Redman but what about the J.K.?

And then a window opened up and it had seven, small black screens. Redman clicked on the first of them and a video started up. Steven realized, with plummeting horror what the J.K. meant.

36


	24. Jennie

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Twenty Four

Jennie

It was Jennie. J.K. stood for Jennie Kofford.

As soon as the video started, it showed Jennie and she was looking up at something. Steven heard Mr. Redman's voice on the camera, he was asking her questions. Steven could recognize the balcony behind Jennie as the same balcony that led to Mrs. Shaunesty's room. This had been recorded yesterday when Mr. Redman had taken her outside to interrogate her. Damn him. He thought Jennie was Kira? _Jennie?_

"You recognize her?" Mr. Redman asked and Steven could feel his eyes burning into the back of his head, trying to find a reaction.

_Calm down, Steven…_ Steven thought forcefully. _Ask questions. Find out more before you lose it…_

"What makes you think this would make me upset?" Steven asked, surprised at how calm he sounded when his insides were squirming as if Jennie was there in the room with him.

"I've seen you two." Mr. Redman smirked. "The two of you talking. And she talked about you."

"What?" Steven's heart skipped a beat.

"Listen."

Steven listened to what they were saying. Jennie didn't seem to be panicking under Mr. Redman's intimidating voice. Steven felt a small ounce of pride for her and forced himself to listen to what they were talking about.

"It's my understanding that your class had a discussion on Kira a little bit ago?" Mr. Redman asked, even though he was off camera. And Steven realized, from the way she was looking upward off screen, that Mr. Redman had the camera hidden somewhere on his body.

"Yeah, so?" Jennie shrugged.

"How did that go?"

Jennie looked away for a second. "Well, we talked about whether or not Kira's views were… right or wrong. I, personally, think that whoever this Kira person is shouldn't be doing what he's doing because I think it's wrong to just _off_ people like that."

"I didn't ask what your views on the matter were." Mr. Redman said and Steven felt a surge of anger toward him for it.

But Jennie smiled. "Sorry, I ramble on and on sometimes."

"Indeed." Mr. Redman said heavily. "So you say you're against Kira, correct?"

"Correct." Jennie nodded.

"What about everyone else? Did they all agree with you?"

"I think most of us did, though there was one guy who…" And she trailed off, almost as if a sudden wave of realization had washed over her and Steven was surprised to see her glare up at Mr. Redman. "You're trying to get me to say who thought Kira was right?"

"Smart girl." Mr. Redman said and Steven could hear the drawl of a man who thought he was winning some grand game with everything at stake. "Who was it that agreed with Kira's methods?"

Steven felt his insides fill with lead. Mr. Redman said Jennie had talked about him, which, according to the video, she had yet to do. He already knew what was going to happen but he couldn't look away from the screen.

"I'm not telling you. It's not important—"

"It is important." Mr. Redman interrupted calmly. "Whoever agreed with Kira's values, there is a chance that this person might be related to Kira. Any information you give me would remain strictly confidential."

Jennie glared at him. Even though Steven knew the outcome, he was silently praying that she said nothing. That she refused, turned around, and stormed inside. But he knew this wasn't true. She was going to sell him out.

"He wouldn't be Kira." Jennie said.

"How do you know that?" Mr. Redman asked and Steven heard suspicion in his voice. Jennie, apparently, did not and kept going.

"Because I just know he wouldn't. Nobody in this class would." Jennie snapped back. "In fact, I don't think anyone in this school could possibly be Kira. You're wasting your time."

And Steven was shocked to see her turn around and storm up the walkway to the balcony and go inside. Mr. Redman was left standing outside for a few seconds, watching her go in silence before the movie ended and the screen returned to the seven black boxes.

"I don't understand…" Steven muttered.

"What?"

"You said that Jennie mentioned me." Steven said darkly. "I didn't see her say my name once."

"Unfortunately, Jennie didn't know that I'd already watched the movie on your class discussion." Redman smirked. "I knew all along it was you, Steven. I just wanted to hear it for myself from her so I could continue asking questions following that."

"You wanted to turn her against me." Steven said. "No, you wanted her to _spy _on me!"

"Right-o!" Redman smiled brightly.

"She didn't, though." Steven smirked and he felt a sense of joy despite all of his hatred for Redman right now. And then something clicked. "That's why you're suspicious of her? Because she refused to make me out to be Kira? So you think that _she's _Kira?"

"You're pretty smart." Mr. Redman said, sitting down on the desk and looking down at Steven with a defiant grin.

Steven couldn't remember being this angry. Not even at Andrew. Mr. Redman was the real villain. This man was good. He glared at his belt. "Are you recording me right now, too?"

"Can't tell you." Redman said, grinning that damn grin.

"What do you want me to say?" Steven asked, raising his voice and standing from his seat. He wanted to punch Redman, right in his face and give him a scar far more visible than the small line across his forehead.

"First, I want to know something." Mr. Redman said. "Back in the class discussion, you were saying that you agreed with Kira's philosophy. And the funny thing was that this discussion took place less than a week after Josh Zito died. And then you told me that you disagreed with Kira's ways. Which one is it, Steven?"

Steven was thinking fast. He hadn't expected this. His brain was still warped with anger toward Redman and pride in Jennie for not giving him away despite it all. "You really think that's important?" Steven asked, calming down.

"Of course." Mr. Redman said.

"I thought you were suspicious of Jennie." Steven growled.

"Oh, I am." Redman reassured him. "But there is a way I can _stop_ being suspicious of her…"

And right away, Steven knew what he wanted. He wanted a confession. His life for Jennie's. If he admitted right here and now that he agreed with Kira's ways, then Redman's primary suspicions would be pointed at him and he would be interrogated and possibly trapped. Steven couldn't think of a way to get out of something like that. And he was probably being recorded. Or he could say that he disagreed with Kira but then Jennie would be in trouble.

"I…" He hesitated. "I only said that stuff in the discussion because I wanted to create a stir up."

Redman's eyebrow raised.

"You heard it yourself. Everyone was thinking the same thing, that Kira was wrong, bla, bla, bla." Steven sighed and looked down at his feet. "I wanted to make it a bit more of an argument."

"So you're saying you don't agree with Kira?" Redman asked.

"Of course not!" Steven shouted, deciding to release all of his anger out here and now. "He killed my best friend! He's killed hundreds, maybe thousands of people out there! I don't care whether they deserved it or not! That's not _his_ place to decide!!!" But Steven was lying. He was truly angry at Redman for bring this out of him. Forcing him to lie. And forcing him to save himself instead of Jennie…

Redman looked almost a little disappointed but he didn't interrupt. And when Steven was finished yelling, he stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're not Kira." Redman said.

"No." Steven sighed.

"Do you believe Jennie might be?" Redman asked, his blue eyes piercing into his.

Steven hesitated but his voice was firm. "No."

Redman nodded. "Alright."

Steven was ashamed for what's he'd done. He left the portable alone, thinking deeply about what had just happened. Jennie hadn't given him away but Steven had made her the prime suspect in order to save his own ass. Maybe Redman would take his word and stop investigating Jennie. He didn't see those other six videos though he had a feeling they were all clips showing Jennie. Maybe one of the videos had been the class discussion. Damned Mrs. Shaunesty for recording that without letting them know! Though it had probably been Redman's idea. The bastard was full of ideas.

But Steven was truly guilty. He had saved himself but now Redman was going to go up to Jennie and interrogate her and accuse her of being Kira. She was smart, sure, but smart enough to outsmart Redman? _Damn it!_ He could've handled being the suspect, why didn't he just admit that he agreed with Kira? _DAMN IT!!_

Steven forgot that it was lunch time. He saw Mr. Goodboy walking with Mr. Mjelli off in the distance, so that's where Mr. Goodboy had been. Steven bet Redman had set it up so that Goodboy was gone while he asked Steven those questions.

When he got to the main building, Steven froze at the door and leaned his head against the glass, staring at his reflection. He looked pale and his eyes were gaunt. _I'm sorry, Jennie…_ He thought miserably. He was reminded, horribly, of how Jennie had come up to him no less than two hours ago to remind him of the picnic. _Tomorrow…_She probably felt guilty about almost giving him away to Mr. Redman.

"_We're friends, right?"_ He remembered her saying that and it felt like it'd been forever ago when he first bumped into her in the hallway where his project had broken. Back then he was only infatuated with her. But now…

Steven opened the door and went inside. He decided he'd get his lunch. He knew where Jennie sat and refused to look in her direction as he went in line, got a chicken burger, and then went outside where he pretended like he was happy with Jacob, Baker and Cameron outside. But his mind never let go.

Steven wanted to go home. He desperately wanted to leave. It was sixth period. Half of the desks were empty. And half the class was talking loudly among themselves as little Mrs. Dutton tried to teach the math class with great difficulty like she always did.

There was nobody worth talking to in this class so he spent the hour with his head on his backpack which was resting up on his feeble desk where words had been carved into it, words like "Fuck!" and "Mrs. Button! Ha-Ha!"

Mrs. Dutton's voice was interrupted abruptly when the intercom came on and Steven heard the voice of Mrs. Beeson, the principle.

"As most of you know," She began, her old voice echoing through each room as everyone stopped doing what they were doing to listen. "Hazen has been under suspicion of having the killer, Kira, amongst us. We can proudly say that the government officials who investigated here talked to each student, each parent, and each teacher in order to find out information about Kira and we are officially cleared of all suspicions."

Steven felt a sense of weightlessness. Cleared of all suspicions? Jennie wasn't a suspect? Mr. Redman _had_ listened to him after-all! Steven felt so relieved that he'd stood up without even realizing it.

"Steven? Sit down." Mrs. Dutton said quietly.

But Steven wasn't listening. He was smiling up at the intercom. He hadn't screwed up after-all. The government would leave. He and Jennie and everyone would be cleared of any suspicion. And Steven would never have to worry about being a suspect for Kira, at least not for a little while!

"I would like to thank each of you for cooperating with the officials who were here while they—" Mrs. Beeson's voice fell short and Steven was brought out of his world of happiness and into confusion. He heard a gagging noise over the intercom and someone, a girl, was screaming "She's on the ground! Someone call 911!!"

Steven stepped back in horror. _What_?

And suddenly everyone in the classroom was up on their feet with him, gasping for air, some of them gurgling white, bubbly foam. Steven wheeled around, a look of dumbfounded terror on his face as everyone, even Mrs. Dutton who was already on the ground clutching her chest, collapsed to the floor or on top of their desks. Drool was running from their lips and their eyes were rolled into the backs of their heads. Everyone around him was dead.

44


	25. Genocide

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Twenty Five

Genocide

Screams filled the halls of Hazen High School. Steven could hear them echoing off the walls outside the classroom door. He was staring around the room with an empty, shocked feeling and he almost felt just as dead as the rest of his math class. What just happened? Why had everyone dropped dead all of the sudden? Steven still had his Death Notes tucked safely away, one in his backpack and one under the care of Zando at home. Could Zando have screwed up? Did Ryoku the hunter find him somehow? But neither of the Shinigami would have any reason for writing _this_ in the Death Note.

Steven burst out of the door, covering his mouth and looking around. People—a surprisingly low amount of people—were running out of their classrooms screaming. Steven recognized Garret throwing up in a trashcan half-way down the hallway.

So Steven's class wasn't the only one with murdered students. But…how many? He felt stricken. How many people were _dead_? Who could've done this?

He felt a tug at his arm and was surprised to see Baker looking frightened and worried. "Steve! You're alive!" She cried with relief.

"What's going on?" Steven muttered numbly.

"Everyone's dropping dead." Baker said, looking around. The hallway didn't look quite full. Everyone was in a panic, talking to each other in high-pitch shrieks. Steven spotted a girl named Kelly pointing into a classroom with tears falling down her cheeks as she talked to one of her friends.

"Mr. Pollard's dead." She was saying.

"Susan and Brian are dead!!"

"Spencer!! NO!"

Steven saw Sarah Schmidt walking down the middle of the hallway, her face was sunken and her eyes weary. "Why would God let something like this happen?" She muttered weakly before collapsing onto the floor.

Seeing this only reminded Steven of Jennie. She'd been Sarah's friend. And Steven felt his insides twist with a horrible realization. _Was Jennie okay_? What about Jacob and Cameron?

"We have to find them." Steven gulped.

"Who?" Baker looked at him.

"Everyone." Steven said. "We have to make sure they're still alive. This was Kira's doing."

"But Mrs. Beeson said—"

"Mrs. Beeson is dead too!" Steven shouted at her and he felt a huge bubble of compressed anger suddenly burst inside his chest that he'd been keeping inside of him for so long. Anger toward Mr. Redman. Anger at himself for betraying Jennie. Anger that someone had just killed off most of the school's population in one go. "We have to find them and get out of here!!"

Baker looked frightened but nodded feverishly.

"Where is Zito's class?" Steven asked, looking around.

"Zito's…dead." Baker muttered.

Steven blinked. "Right—right. Where are Jacob and Cameron's classes?"

"I don't know." said Baker, looking down sadly.

Steven silently cursed. How could this be happening? This wasn't supposed to _fucking_ happen! And as they ran down the hallway of scared looking students not knowing what to do, Steven allowed himself to think harder on this matter. He had to figure this out. Why was he still alive? Was there a purpose for leaving certain students alive? This was definitely the work of a Death Note. Someone, somewhere out there wanted the school to suffer greatly. They probably selected students at random and killed them all. So Steven was lucky to be alive. Or _was_ he? He couldn't think straight. None of it made any sense at all. How could someone else have a Death Note? A third Death Note? Had Ryoku broken the rules and taken another one to give to someone in order to defeat Steven and get Zando? Or…

And Steven remembered being in Mr. Goodboy's class with Mr. Redman finding out that he suspected Jennie. No. That wasn't possible. There was no way Jennie had a Death Note. She was against Kira's beliefs, right? _She could've lied…_ But she's Mormon! _You sold your friends for the Death Note, she could've sold her beliefs…_She's not that kind of girl!! _How would you know that? You hardly know her at all…_ But the picnic… _The picnic is a distraction! She probably knows you like her…_No! No! No! _You never did see those other six videos Mr. Redman had of Jennie. Maybe he was right. Maybe he saw her writing in a notebook…_I would know if someone else was killing criminals out there… _Would you? Can you really keep track of all of them? You don't watch the news everyday… _No! Jennie can't be the killer. She can't!!

But his mind was arguing with him the whole way as they searched the bottom floor and didn't find Cameron, Jacob, or Jennie. Baker, of course, had no idea that Steven was looking for her but he needed to find her. He needed to make sure she was alright too. And he needed to make sure she wasn't the killer.

_If Jennie is dead…_ said the wicked little voice in the back of his head …_then she isn't the killer. _No! She can't' be dead and she isn't the killer! _Then who else could be? Andrew's dead. Zito's dead. Katlynn's dead. Mr. Redman doesn't have your Death Note. Nobody does. And you saw her that one morning with a notebook, but you didn't go see her… _She's not the killer!!! _You're blind because you love her… _Shut up!

Steven spotted Cameron and Jacob up ahead. Jacob was on his knees, kneeling over someone. "Cameron! Jac…ob…" Baker's voice fell as they arrived on the scene. Jacob wasn't crying, but he didn't need to be. Steven could see the sadness in his eyes as he stared down at his dead sister, Kirsten, in his arms.

"I'm so sorry, Jacob." Cameron said weakly.

"We've got to get out of here." Baker said.

"No." Steven said fiercely and they all looked at him (except for Jacob, who only had eyes for his dead sister)

"Why not?" Cameron asked, glaring at him in bewilderment.

"There's still someone else I have to find." Steven said. "You guys can go—go wait for me outside. The police will probably be here any minute."

"Who are you looking for?" Baker asked.

"Nobody you know! Just go, okay?" Steven begged them, desperate to keep searching upstairs for Jennie. "I'll be fine. Kira already killed everyone he needed to. He left us alive; he wouldn't kill us randomly now."

"We'll be in the parking lot with everyone else." Cameron said, nodding.

"Thanks." Steven told them. He didn't care where they went. He didn't if he ever saw his friends again. He needed to find out what was going on. The police would, indeed, be coming. And Steven had yet to see any teachers anywhere. The killer must've killed them all too. Jesus Christ. Whoever did this knew that the school would be in disorder and wouldn't know what to do. A flock of sheep without their Shepard are easier pray for the wolves.

He ran upstairs. He had no idea where Jennie's sixth period class was. But he was determined to find her. And he would do everything he could to get to the truth. The media would have a hay-day with this. Whoever killed all these people, there was a chance that it wasn't someone who went to Hazen. It was all over the news how their school was suspected of holding Kira. Anyone with a Death Note out there could've seen this and used it to their advantage, kill as many students and teachers as possible but leave some of them alive so that they can be the suspicious ones. But Steven very much doubted this. This couldn't be random. The timing of the murder was just too perfect. Whoever did this _knew_ what they were doing and _knew_ what they had in their hands. It wasn't just some new guy. It had to be someone at Hazen. _Someone like Jennie…_

Steven closed his eyes and shook his head. He was only suspicious of Jennie because of what Mr. Redman said. He wondered what Mr. Redman would say now? _Damn it!!_ He thought angrily. They'd just been cleared of all suspicions and now this happened? It had to be someone who went to Hazen—to time the killing right when Mrs. Beeson made that announcement…

Now the school really would be the main center of suspicion. Everyone left alive would be interrogated by the government for sure. Steven wondered if any of the government officials were dead as well. He hadn't seen any of them. Not even Redman.

But Steven could worry about what the government would do later. He had to worry about himself right now. Just to make sure, he opened his backpack as he ran and felt the inside where he kept the Death Note. It was still there. Good.

He zipped it back up and continued running. He thought about calling out Jennie's name but was suddenly swept with the urge not to find her. If he went through all the trouble of making sure she was safe…that would look suspicious considering they were hardly friends. Jennie considered them friends though…but _were_ they? Steven imagined himself kicking open a door and finding Jennie looking helpless on the floor somewhere, completely innocent of being the killer, and Steven announcing that he was there to save her.

Now wasn't the time to be day-dreaming. If Jennie was the killer, Steven needed to find her. He could find her and act like he was really just looking for his friends and then lead her outside. He could ask her questions along the way…

…But what if she really was dead? If she was dead…

Steven felt overcome by this. Whoever had done this must've done it for some sort of purpose. If Jennie was dead… And then he heard it. The sound that made his heart stop and his mind go fuzzy. Jennie was screaming.

Steven ran faster than he could ever remember running down the empty hallway. He recognized the scream somehow. Even though he'd never heard her scream before, he knew it belonged to her. Jennie was still alive.

And he came to a screeching halt in front of a door that led into a language arts classroom. Jennie was crouched against the wall staring at something in front of her with a wide-eyed look of terror. Steven's joy of knowing she was alive was short-lived when he came upon this scene.

"Jennie?" He said, surprised at how hoarse his voice was.

Jennie looked up at him. "S-Steve?" she muttered.

Steven wanted to say something—anything, to comfort her and make her feel better and to explain why he was there but nothing came to mind. Seeing her looking so hurt had punctured a hole inside of his lungs and stopped him from being able to say a damn word.

Jennie sniffed and wiped a tear from her eye, standing up shakily. Steven stepped forward and helped her up, not caring that this was the first time he'd actually touched her hand. Everyone in the classroom was dead in here as well. Including the teacher. Steven could see her pointed shoes somewhere in the shadows. The lights were off and Steven figured that the class had been watching a movie on the projector. Poor Jennie looked like she had been the only survivor of the mass killing spree in her class. Everyone dying so unexpectedly in front of her must've scared her half to death.

_Doesn't it strike you suspicious that she was the only survivor in this class?_ The little voice in his head said evilly. But Steven had also been the only survivor in his class. It must've just been luck.

"This was Kira, wasn't it…?" Jennie said weakly as they left the class.

"Yeah. Everyone's gathered up outside." Steven told her, finding his voice again. "We should go there too."

Jennie nodded.

They didn't share any words on the way downstairs. The school was filled with echoing shrieks of panic and crying girls. It was strangely empty. So many rooms filled with dead bodies. Steven wondered how much of the school had actually survived. They would find out when they got into the parking lot.

Steven looked sideways at Jennie. She was holding herself and looking sick. Steven, again, wanted to say something to her but nothing he could say would be able to comfort her. How could he have suspected her? Jennie was no killer. And yet Steven still felt painfully guilty for some reason. Like he had been the one to kill everyone so suddenly. But this wasn't his fault. He'd never planned to do this. Someone else must've. Someone who wanted Hazen students to be suspicious as Kira. But who? Who the hell could it be?

"Thank you for finding me." Jennie muttered as they walked outside.

"I was just looking for…anyone I could." Steven said weakly. "I heard you and…It's not like I was about to just leave you there or anything…"

Again, Jennie said nothing. Steven wasn't sure why it was so awkward all of the sudden. Had it always been this awkward between them? He wondered, vaguely, if they would still be going on that picnic tomorrow… Probably not…

When they got out into the parking lot, Steven saw a crowd of scared looking students all talking loudly to one another. Steven hoped that Jennie would stay with him as they looked for their friends, but as soon as they got there, Jennie shouted "Schmidt!" and ran forward toward Sarah who was sitting on a bench looking just as forlorn as before, though at least conscious this time.

Steven watched Jennie leave with a sinking feeling in his chest. He felt like he'd just gone through hell and back to get her out. But she was already gone. With a small thank you. That was it.

When he rejoined Cameron, Baker, and Jacob, he saw that they were all looking sad about something too. "Hey…" He greeted them quietly.

"Did you find who you were looking for?" Baker asked.

Steven hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "No. She was dead…"

"I'm sorry, Bush…" Baker muttered.

Jacob had Kirsten in both his arms, looking determined to get his sister's body out of there. Cameron was slouched next to a tree with his hands pocketed and looking around worriedly. Steven knew that he was probably searching for his twin brother, Bryce. But Steven had a vivid image of seeing Bryce's body on the ground while he had been running around with Baker earlier. He didn't have the heart to tell Cameron and decided to wallow in his own grief like everyone else. There was nothing else he could do but consider himself lucky that he was still alive and hope that Jennie wouldn't forget about him. What would happen now?

And then he saw them. The police cars and the ambulance pull into the parking lot. The crowd of students parted and allowed them through and Steven recognized the black cop who had investigated the break-in at Steven's house yesterday there as well. Steven stayed back and stayed quiet as the cops asked questions from the crowd and the ambulance went inside the school. It was already too late for them, though. Everyone inside was already dead.

About twenty minutes later news vans had come onto the scene and Steven watched as a few students were interviewed and asked about what happened. But they all had the same story. Steven waited with his friends the whole time outside, watching everything happen. Jacob decided to walk home with Kirsten's body in his arms. Cameron was picked up by his mom and parted with them. Baker, too, found a group of her friends and drove off. Steven was left alone, watching and thinking in silence as everything unfolded around him. By the end of the day, the world would know that Kira had killed 80 percent of the school's students and all of its teachers and employees.

"This sure is hell, huh." said a voice behind Steven as he stood there and watched. He turned and saw Mr. Redman leaning against the side of a shiny, black Cadillac. The one man he didn't want to see.

Redman was smoking a cigarette and was just putting the lighter into his pocket, a smirk on his face as he looked up at Steven and released a bellow of smoke into the air.

"What are you doing here?" Steven asked somberly.

"I just went out to get a bite to eat." Redman smirked.

"I suppose you think me and Jennie are still the prime suspects, right?" Steven sighed.

"No." Redman said, looking down at his feet. "I believed you—what you said—about Jennie not being Kira. I, personally, don't think she's the type to do it either. Most of those other videos just showed her talking to her friends about Kira, that's it, really."

"So you really did believe I was Kira, then?" Steven asked.

"For a second or two, yes." Redman said.

"That's why you broke into my house?"

Redman blinked. "What?"

"You broke into my house looking for evidence." Steven said, fully facing him. "But you didn't find anything and that's why you figure I'm not Kira, right?"

Redman was staring at him like he'd never seen him before. "I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about."

Steven stared at him. Redman couldn't be lying. Why would he? But then... He looked down, not understanding anything anymore. None of it made a single, damn bit of sense.

"Why don't you suspect me anymore, then?" Steven asked after a minute of silence.

"Because, Steve…" Redman sighed, taking another breath of his cigar. "I believe that you want to catch this Kira guy just as much as I do."

Steven looked up at him and their eyes met. "I do." He said firmly.

Redman stared long and hard at him for a second and Steven wondered if those piercing, blue eyes of his could read his mind. Finally, he said "Would you be willing to do anything to catch Kira?"

Steven didn't expect this and thought for a moment. Was Redman offering him something? "Why?" he asked.

"No reason…"

"Liar."

"I'm good at that." Redman smirked. "I'll be seeing you around, Steven…"

Steven said nothing and watched in silence as he threw the cigar on the ground, stepped on it, and clambered into the black car behind him. Mr. Redman drove off and left him there alone in the parking lot, feeling more confused than he'd ever been before.

He turned around and saw Jennie standing with all of her friends talking amongst themselves about everything.

_She's so far away…_ Steven thought. They weren't _really_ friends. To her, he was just some boy she barely talked to in second period. Nothing more. She had her friends. There would be no picnic, not after something like this. The School was going to close down, that was for sure. He was never going to see her again. And she didn't even care.

The walk home was long and hard. And even though the sun was blazing high up in the sky, Steven felt a cold feeling in the pit of his chest. Everything had fallen apart so quickly. He wept silently the whole way home…

**Author's Note:** There isn't going to be a chapter for a while, I'm going to be rereading this to collect data because, as you can probably tell, the story's going to be coming to a close soon and I need to prepare for the final few chapters.

During the wait, however, I would really appreciate a lot of reviews because I worked hard on this story and I would love to know what you guys think about it! Thank you


	26. Love

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Twenty Six

Love

Kira had targeted Hazen High School. That much was known across the rest of the world. Every news station talked about it and would probably continue talking about it for the rest of the month. Steven never talked about what had happened to anyone. His sister, Amanda, however, had a mouth-full to say. Two of her friends had been killed in the massacre, if you could call it that. But Steven was as silent as the grave and spent a lot of time inside of his room the following morning lying in bed half-naked and staring up at the ceiling bleary-eyed and not wanting to get up. Maybe if he spent the rest of his life in bed he wouldn't have to put up with anything. It was so relaxing, just to lie there in silence and imagine a situation before the Death Note controlled his life.

But even as he would enjoy the comfortable softness of his bed and the relaxing silence (occasionally interrupted by a snore or two from Zando in the closet), Steven always felt the annoying and painful throb in the back of his mind.

It was a build-up of anger, frustration, and sadness that had wrapped around him like a sheet of depression. Steven rolled over and glared at the clock. 9:30 am. He could hear his family in the kitchen. His parents had been relieved that both of their kids had somehow lived through the High School massacre yesterday and from the sound of it, his mom was cooking them a special breakfast. Steven rolled his eyes and hid his head under his pillow. Who could have done this?

He tried very hard to come up with a solution to how all of this could make sense but nothing came. He went through every person that was still alive in his mind—even ridiculous people that he knew would never do this. But the one person that stuck out was Jennie. She didn't look or act like the type of person who would kill over a thousand students. Did she know that she was under suspicion of the government? Whether she did or not, it would've been foolish of her to pull such a stunt because now she would be a suspect of Kira for sure along with every other survivor, despite what Redman said.

Steven also realized that Redman could've been trying to fool Steven the whole time and that there was a small chance he never really did suspect Jennie and that he truly suspected Steven the whole time and was just trying to get things out of him. Steven supposed that would explain why Redman called off the investigation so suddenly. But his plan didn't work.

It didn't change the fact that Steven couldn't think of a damn soul who would be stupid enough kill so many people. Was it really a student at Hazen who did it? Or was it someone else who knew that they were under investigation and somehow managed to get a Death Note. But who would do something like that? Steven couldn't imagine and decided that he would have to try and come up with some sort of plan to catch this new Kira and watch the news more carefully from now on to make sure he was the only Kira out there…

But if it was someone else who didn't go to Hazen then that meant it could be anyone in the _world_. Steven closed his eyes and wondered if this new Kira knew that the real Kira really did go to Hazen or not and that was the reason why he was still alive. Steven had made sure that he still had both Death Notes once he got home yesterday. He took the one out of his backpack and was now keeping it hidden in his drawer underneath a stack of porno. The other Death Note, the original one, was down in the hatch underneath his floor. He would keep that one there for safe-keeping and continue to use the one he'd stolen from Andrew as his main Death Note.

Steven had a migraine. He decided to get up and go to the bathroom to find some pills to help him feel better. He hated swallowing pills so he took out a small, steel bowl and a graining stick that he used to smash up the pills. When he was done, he tipped them into a glass of water and drank. He felt a cold shiver run down his spine and nearly gagged. He hated the taste of water and pills but it was better than choking on the thing as a whole. When he was done he leaned his face against the mirror and sighed deeply.

He could see the darkness under his eyes had gotten deeper, much deeper in the past couple of months. Again, he wondered if this was a side-affect of the Death Note or if it was just stress and insomnia taking over. At least his hair wasn't falling out.

When he returned to bed, Zando was awake and looking up at him with those wide, frightening eyes that Steven had grown used to. He remembered when he first met the Shinigami, how frightening he'd been when he first walked in. Now when he walked in he found the expression on his face kind of funny.

"Hey, Steve." Zando greeted. "Still tired?"

"Yeah." Steven grunted.

"Aren't you worried about the new Death Note user?"

"Yeah." Steven said again, sitting down on the bed and wrapping himself up in a blanket.

"What if they're working with Ryoku?" Zando said worriedly. "They could find us."

"I'm still alive." Steven said. "Which means whoever this other Kira person is, they probably don't know I'm the real Kira. Unless they're trying to make me miserable. If they are, it's working."

"You? Miserable?" Zando smirked. "Get outta town."

Steven said nothing and fell back into his pillows to glare back up at his ceiling. His mom had come in earlier telling him that the news said there was no school today. Steven would've figured that even without her waking him up. With every teacher dead, and the administrators dead as well, he doubted they would be able to continue school, if they ever would. How long would it take to find new teachers capable? Or would they just use subs? More importantly, was the Renton School District going to risk starting school back up again after such a huge loss. Every other school in the area was closed for the time being as well just in case Kira decided to go crazy and attack another school in Washington or something. Whoever did this really ruined Kira's reputation. Maybe that was their real intention.

Thinking about school itself only reminded him of Jennie and all of his friends and it made his stomach squirm uncomfortably. He didn't want to think of her anymore. If school was going to be closed for a while, maybe he could use this as an opportunity to get over her. But how do you get over someone like her? He couldn't think of anything bad to think about her and if he did think of something it felt like he was lying and it would only make him feel sicker than he already did. He would just have to take comfort in the thought that he would eventually get over her and move on, maybe fall for another girl…

Only this wasn't a comforting thought at all. Every time he did think this way, he would feel his heart throb and he realized that he didn't want to get over her. He felt like he was supposed to end up with her. Why hadn't he taken the opportunity yesterday to talk to her while they were alone? Damn it all. _You're an idiot…_

10:00 am. Steven decided that he couldn't wallow in self-pity for the rest of the morning. He was hungry. The pills must've done something to make his saliva increase or something because his stomach had started growling and he couldn't concentrate.

When he went into the kitchen wearing a long, black robe, he saw a plate with eggs, sausage, and tater-tots on it with a sign above it that said "Steven's breakfast. Wash your dish when you're done."

_Thanks Mom_… He thought a little sarcastically, sitting down and eating. When he finished he washed his plate and even though he was full up on food, he still felt an empty hole somewhere inside of him.

The phone rang. Steven, instinctively, stood up to answer it. He stopped, however, and stared at the caller ID screen. **"Unknown name, Unknown number."**

Could Mr. Redman be calling him? Why would he do that? He said he didn't suspect him anymore. Did he mean it? It could be someone else in the government or from the media wanting to talk to him about what happened at the school. He was a survivor; it would only be natural that he would be one of the many suspects, even _if_ Redman didn't think so. It could also just be a telemarketer or some random person with the wrong number. Nonetheless, he pressed and talk button and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, is Steve there?"

Steven's heart gave a jolt and felt more awake than he'd been all morning. How was this possible? No. It couldn't be true. It was someone else, it had to be. There was no way Jennie was on the other line right now.

"Uhm, sorry, who is this?" Steven asked, clearing his voice.

"Jennie."

How the hell did she get his number? And more importantly, why was she calling him all of the sudden? He felt like the kitchen had just flipped upside-down and he was spiraling somewhere in the middle.

"Oh, Jennie." He said, acting casual and sitting down. "How'd you get this number?"

"It's called _Yellow Pages_" Jennie said and he heard a trace of sarcasm in her voice. So Jennie had actually looked him up? Something wasn't right. What would she want to say to him now that she couldn't have said when they were alone yesterday? She probably had no idea that he was trying to get over her and hearing her voice on his own phone so unexpectedly did not help.

Steven scoffed to her response nonetheless. "Alright, yellow pages. What's up?"

"There was no school today so I couldn't tell you in person…" Jennie started. "And I was in shock yesterday because, well, you know why…" Steven's mind was racing. What was she trying to tell him? "The picnic is still on, only it's going to be tomorrow."

"What?" Steven felt a sense of anger and relief at the same time and it confused him. "Oh, wait, I thought the picnic thing would be off because…well…a lot of people died and…" He trailed off.

"Doesn't mean we can't still enjoy life." Jennie said. "Yeah, some of my friends died but I'm not going to sit on my butt and be emo forever."

Steven felt guilty. She'd just said exactly what he was doing right now.

"If you don't want to come, I'd understand though." Jennie said. "I'm just calling everyone who can still come."

"I'll go." Steven said quickly.

"Oh, okay." Jennie said, backtracking. "Well, you know where?"

"Maplewood Park, right?"

"Right."

"Cool. What time?"

"What do you look so happy about?" Zando asked, about ten minutes later.

"I still get to see Jennie." Steven said, sitting down on the bed and smiling.

Zando didn't look happy at all. "Shouldn't you be focusing more on this other Kira person?"

"There's nothing I can do, Zando." Steven said. "If I could, I would try to announce over the news or internet or something that the person who killed everyone at Hazen was an imposter but to do that I would need someone at the news stations to post it and I can't exactly do that. Plus, it would only create more controversy about Kira and people would think that anyone would be able to have Kira's power. In the end it would be pointless. I'll just have to keep doing what I'm doing and watch this other Kira's movements until I see an opening. It's all a chess game, Zando. And right now, it's their move. Nothing I can do."

"That's not the usual attitude I see from you." Zando frowned.

"What do _you_ think I should do then?" Steven asked, getting a little angry.

"I think you take this Jennie girl more seriously then the Death Note."

"That's not…"

"If you had to chose, what would you chose?"

Steven turned away from him. "It doesn't matter. I'll never have to choose between them because I can have both."

"Is that what you think?"

"Yes!" Steven shouted.

They glared at each other. Steven couldn't believe that the Death God was actually arguing with him. What was his problem?"

"I'm sorry, Steve." Zando said. "But you can't have the Death Note _and_ love."

Steven ignored him and left the room. He had things to do.

* * *

Luke heard a knock at the door. He got up from the chair in his parent's room (he loved that chair because it was so comfortable and a great place to just sit down and vegitate). When he answered the door he saw Steven standing on the porch.

"Steve!" Luke said.

"Hey." Steven came in and closed the door behind him.

Luke walked back into the kitchen. He had just been spacing out about a fighting style and had been trying to perfect it in his head when Steven had knocked. Luke loved to OCD his way around the house and listen to the same old music whenever he was alone so that he could pass the time. And now that Steve was here he would have to put it on hold.

"What is up?" Luke asked.

"Remember that picnic I was telling you about a while ago?"

Luke searched his memory and shook his head.

"Well, there's a picnic tomorrow that I'm going to with some friends. Jennie, the girl I told you about, is going to be there." Steven told him. "She just called me, actually, to let me know it's still on even though what happened yesterday…"

Luke knew about the Hazen Massacre. His dad had come home and told them. He was not looking forward to Sunday at church where they would probably pray for the school and everyone who died there.

"Anyway…" Steven went on. "I want you to come with me."

"To the picnic?" Luke raised an eyebrow."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Steven blinked. "It's just a picnic. It'll be fun. And you need to get off your ass."

"What if I don't want to?" Luke asked with a smirk.

"Like you have anything else to do." Steven smiled. "Don't tell me you're still depressed about Dez."

Why was he smiling? Was Steven actually amused? Luke sat down in a chair at the kitchen table and considered him. "I dunno. There's probably gonna be a bunch of lame people there." By lame, of course, he meant people that weren't worthy of his time.

"Fine." Steven said, standing up. "Don't come because it'll be good to get out of the house every now and then. Instead, come because I need a buddy there to back me up in case things go bad with me and Jennie."

Luke understood what he meant, but scoffed anyway. "So you're really just looking out for yourself?"

"Of course." Steven said. "Come on man. I'm sorry about Dez and all but you shouldn't sit around all day and—"

"I'll come, I'll come." Luke interrupted, waving his hand impatiently. He didn't want to talk about Dez, nor give him any interpretation that she was the reason behind Luke's unsocial status lately. Zito and Bryce, both of his friends, were also dead, and yet he'd not talked to anyone about it except for his family (though that hardly helped). How was Steve able to cope with it? Dez hadn't been his girlfriend, but he didn't seem to sad about the fact that Zito was dead.

"Excellent." Steven said, turning to the door again.

"Leaving already?" Luke asked, surprised.

"Yeah, got things to do." Steven opened the door and left the house, a small smile on his face. Zando had been with him and was dancing down the paved driveway merrily. Steven decided he'd let the Shinigami go out with him for a walk. He hadn't seen the sun for over a month, after-all.

"Can I come to the picnic as well?" Zando asked on their way home.

Steven considered him for a moment. "There's still a chance Ryoku is following me around. If the third Kira ever figures out about my existence as the real Kira then I'd still need you around. It was probably a mistake to bring you with me right now."

"But you haven't seen that old hunter since you've killed Andrew." Zando complained loudly. "Come on."

If the hunter really was watching him right now, Zando would already be dead, which meant he would have no way of knowing that Steven would be going to a park which meant that Zando would probably be safe enough to come with him… Only…

There was still something weighing heavily on his mind. Was Jennie the other Kira? Steven had no way of knowing for sure and he planned to find out a little bit more about her at the picnic, maybe even get a little romantic so he could gain her trust. But if Jennie really was the other Kira, then there was a chance that Ryoku would be with her at the picnic. Then again, the hunter didn't have any other Death Note with him. So Steven figured that there was a better chance that this was a completely different Shinigami who decided to come down.

"Is Ryoku the only hunter after you?" Steven asked Zando as they crossed the street back to his house.

"Yes." Zando said. "One hunter for one criminal, that's the way the rules work."

"Alright, you can come." Steven decided, hoping he didn't regret this. He trusted Jennie. And if she had some other Shinigami with her that he couldn't see, then it wasn't going to be a hunter which meant that Zando was in no danger.

* * *

Across the city, a girl was lying in her bed.

The light of the sun shined down into her eyes and she awoke, wondering briefly where this light could've come from. She rose from her pillows and saw that it was coming from out the window. She stood up and closed the blinds so she wouldn't feel the heat rays from the light anymore before she collapsed back into her bed.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" She asked, his face in the pillow.

"I've waited long enough." Ryoku the Hunter replied from the corner of the room.

"Good." The girl sighed, rolling over. "You're sure that he never saw you?"

"Of course not." Ryoku said. "He underestimates me."

"Of course. He's an idiot."

"You're harsh."

"What do you expect?"

"The picnic starts around noon, correct?" Ryoku asked, changing subjects.

"Yeah." She replied, looking up at the mirror.

"You tricked him better than I thought someone like _you_ could." The hunter said appraisingly.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" She asked, a little affronted.

"Nothing."

"Good."

"Are you sure about this?" Ryoku asked, tilting his head.

She looked into the hunter's eyes. "Yes."

**Author's Note:** Two more chapters left, guys. reviews please!


	27. Picnic

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Twenty Seven

Picnic

Steven and Luke went to Maplewood Park at the same time that day. Steven had, of course, brought the Death Note with him in the seam of his backpack where he'd put the bag of chips and soda in. Luke didn't bring any food because he was never asked to. When they walked down the road and went through the gate, they saw the familiar park laid out before them.

There was a path going down by some benches and a green hillside where it connected with a bridge. Beyond the bridge was a forest and in the center of the forest was a clearing with a playground for toddlers. Steven could spot a mother and two kids running around in it. The path continued into a denser part of the forest where it emerged back on the other side of all the green hills.

On top of the one of the hills, Steven could see them. A group of ten or so people hanging around by a huge blanket in the grass

"I don't see Ryoku." Zando said from behind Steven.

Steven smiled. Jennie was laughing. He could hear that laugh from all the way across the park and it was nice to hear. Last time he'd seen her was at the school where she'd been scared and sad. How could he ever suspect her as Kira?

_Careful _said the little voice in his head, _you can't trust anyone…_

Steven ignored this voice and walked toward the group, waving to them happily as they arrived.

Steven recognized Sarah Schmidt amongst the group. Everyone else, however, Steven had never seen before. There was a black boy who was talking to two others boys about football. There were three girls sitting next to Jennie talking to her about how one of them just got a job at the mall. Jennie looked up when he approached them.

"Ah! Steve!" She said, "Guys, this is Steve. Steve, guys."

"This is Luke." Steven said, gesturing to Luke at his side, who posed when introduced.

"I know him." Jennie said. "Hi Luke."

"Sup, sup." Luke said and Steven got the distinct impression that he didn't want to be there again.

_Damn him, _Steven thought, smiling and shrugging his backpack off to take out the food.

For the first five minutes or so, it was a little awkward. Luke didn't say a word but Steven got to know some of Jennie's friends a little better. The girls were very giddy and laughed at just about anything. The guys, Steven saw with a flicker of annoyance, all seemed to be trying to flirt with Jennie and Jennie alone. Lucky for him, Luke was there to make them look like idiots. Whenever one of them said anything remotely stupid, Luke would retaliate with a witty comment and make them look foolish while Steven and Jennie scoffed into their hands.

"I've got to take a piss." Luke muttered, standing up after what felt like an hour of sitting there. "I'll be back."

Steven smirked and looked down at the blanket. It really was huge. He figured Jennie's mom or someone else must've made it. There were very strange designs threaded into it.

"You've got some interesting friends, Steve." Jennie smiled.

"He's the only one." Steven said.

He looked around and saw that most of the food had already been eaten and he was surprised at how little he, himself had eaten. He hadn't exactly been very hungry. He was only there so he could talk to Jennie. Her friends were all talking to each other. The boys had taken out a football and were running up and down the hill tossing it back and forth.

"So…" Steven began, thinking quickly of something random to talk about. "Before the whole Hazen thing happened, how many others were originally supposed to come?"

"Umm, around thirty." Jennie said thoughtfully.

Steven stared at her with raised eyebrows and she laughed.

"Did a lot of people not want to come because they were too depressed?" He asked.

"Yeah, I told them they were lame, though. Don't worry." Jennie said.

"That's good. Maybe more people will show up now because they don't want to be _lame_." Steven smirked.

"Are you not enjoying yourself?" Jennie asked curiously.

"No, I am. This is nice."

"What is?"

Steven flushed. "Being here with…" He would've finished the sentence but Luke returned at this precise moment and took a seat. There was something odd about Luke's expression and he seemed to be spacing out and looking at the forest. Steven savagely almost wanted to tell Luke to go take a piss again so that he could finish what he was saying but it was too late.

Steven looked down at the intricate blanket again, thinking furiously as Jennie turned to one of her friends. Had she guessed what he was going to say? Maybe she was too embarrassed to keep talking to him too. Damn it all, why couldn't Luke have just pissed for another minute?

"What were you going to say?" Zando asked curiously.

Steven frowned and ignored him, trying to think of something else to say to Jennie. Maybe he could ask her for a talk somewhere more private.

And then he saw something that made his heart stop. Something had just flown out from the trees. It landed right behind them. Long hair. A strange mask. Bellowing, torn robes. And wide, devil-like eyes. Steven stared at it in horror but this was nothing compared to Zando's expression.

"Ryoku!!" The Shinigami shouted, standing up.

The hunter was faster than Steven could've imagined. In a flash, Zando was pinned on the ground with Ryoku on top of him, both blades resting against the underside of Zando's neck.

"Steven! Help me!" Zando yelped.

"Shut up." Ryoku breathed in Zando's ear.

Steven felt a numb sort of dead feeling in the pit of his stomach. What the hell was going on? He looked around and saw that everyone else was minding their own business. Luke was picking at the grass around his feet; Jennie was talking to her friends. None of them had any clue that there was a Death God being held prisoner by another next to them. Except for Steve. But there was nothing Steven could do. He couldn't say anything or do anything or everyone would know. And what was there that he could do, anyway?

He glared at Ryoku, his fists trembling. How had this happened? Had the hunter been waiting this whole time? Zando trembled, staring at the blades apprehensively. Why didn't he just fly off with Zando captured right now?

"You're expected." Ryoku said suddenly, looking at Steven. "Go down the path into the forest."

Steven wanted to ask why. He had a thousand questions running through his mind. He had to fight the impulse not to try and swing a punch at the Hunter's masked face, knowing that it would be a fruitless effort. Instead, he stood up, muttering "I got to take a piss." to Luke.

He walked off down the path, not looking back. Would Zando be okay? Would they still be there when he returned? Would he return at all? And why was he going into the forest, obeying Ryoku like he was some sort of dog? It was a strange feeling. But he had no other choice. "_He was expected"_ is what the hunter had said. Expected from whom?

And then the fleeting realization ran through him. It had to be the person who killed everyone at Hazen. The one behind his misery. The one who had tarnished Kira's name. Was he about to finally find out who it was?

_But why now!? God damn it!_ He was sitting there with Jennie not even a minute ago about to tell her how he felt and now he was going into the forest alone without his Death Note and with Zando in custody of the Hunter's blades. A feeling of dread was in the pit of his stomach.

He arrived in an empty clearing. There were dense trees and bushes all around. Nobody on the outside would be able to see, or even hear, what was going on inside of the clearing. He came to a stop and for a brief second, considered running back. But what good would that do?

And then he saw it. A few leaves rustled and Steven saw a figure emerge from the bushes on the other side of the path. He felt a plummeting feeling of horror and realization flow through him as he looked up at her face.

**Author's Note: **Short Chapter, I know. I'll make up for it with the next, and final chapter in this story. I hope you enjoy. And I must apologize for the cliff-hanger. Let me know what you think


	28. Fate

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

Chapter Twenty Eight

**Fate**

"Hey, Steve." Katlynn greeted, emerging onto the middle of the path.

Steven said nothing. He could only stare in awe. Katlynn was there, alive. Impossible! How could this be happening? She was staring at him with a blank sort of disgust and Steven knew this was real but didn't want to believe it.

"You're supposed to be dead…" Steven muttered.

"I lied." Katlynn smirked. "Something you should be used to, right?

A sarcastic and immature remark. Steven felt a surge of rage. How _dare_ her! How the hell was she still alive? She had committed suicide, hadn't she? Not even a week ago!

"You faked your death?" Steven said, asking more then stating.

"Right." She said, shuffling her feet but looking confident nevertheless.

"How? What about your family? How could you just—"

"I killed them." Katlynn said casually.

Steven blinked. "Killed them?" he repeated, as if the words were foreign to him. "You killed your own parents just so you could fake a suicide?"

"Yeah." Katlynn shrugged.

"Why?" Steven asked, outraged.

Katlynn stared at him and he could see that she was enjoying this. "You killed Andrew. You killed Zito and so many other people just so you could keep your Death Note. I did what I had to do in order to defeat you."

"Defeat me!?' Steven laughed and felt himself boiling with fury that boosted his self confidence. "I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"I could've killed you whenever I wanted." Katlynn shrugged.

Steven stared at her. How? She didn't have a Death Note. "Did that hunter break the rules and get another one?"

"No." Katlynn said. "I tried to convince him to. But he refused. So I had to resort to something else."

Everything seemed to click together at once when she said this. "You're the one who broke into my house…" He muttered. "No, that can't be, I still have both of the Death Notes!"

"Wrong." Katlynn grinned evilly. "You have one Death Note, the one you stole from Andrew. I have yours."

"How?" Steven asked, again feeling the rage building up inside of him.

"I found yours in your drawer. I replaced it with a fake. I figured you would use it eventually and figure out that it was a fake but I wanted to throw you off for as long as I could." Katlynn explained, crossing her arms. "There was a problem, of course. You wrote inside of it Dez's name in blue pen along with a few others. I had Ryoku there with me so he copied your signature perfectly into the fake. It took a long time to copy all those pages on your computer, though."

Steven remembered finding his computer and scanner in a mess with a glue stick and a blue pen next to it. Again, it made sense and again he couldn't believe what he was hearing. This meant the Death Note he had down in the hatch under his room was virtually useless.

"You killed all those people at Hazen…" He said quietly. "Why?"

"Ryoku had been watching you for a long time in the shadows." Katlynn said. "He's a hunter, and his cloak can make him invisible even to those who can see him. He followed you around school a lot and gave me information about what you were up to while I stayed in hiding at my house."

"Why didn't you just kill me!?" Steven roared, letting go of his ferocity and secretly hoping that nobody at the picnic would hear him shouting.

Katlynn didn't show any signs of being afraid. She continued staring at him with those wide eyes of hers. "You killed Andrew." She said. "I loved him. I really loved him and you took him away from me. You made me feel more pain and misery then I could ever imagine feeling! So I wanted to make you miserable, and it worked."

Damn her. Damn her. DAMN HER!! None of it made sense. No… It all made sense. She wanted him to suffer. That's why he was still alive. And he did suffer. She could've killed him. He could've been dead because he'd made the mistake of not killing her right away. He'd underestimated her. She feigned her death so that he wouldn't think of writing her name in his Death Note. He remembered telling Zando about how this was all a Chess game and how it had been the other's turn to move. And boy, did she move.

"Why would Ryoku just agree to do all of this for you?" Steven asked. "He could've killed Zando whenever he wanted."

Katlynn frowned. "I don't know, honestly. He just told me that he would do everything he could to help me…"

Steven was struck dumb as he remembered Zando once telling him that it was possible for a Shinigami to fall in love with a human. Could it be that Ryoku had fallen for Katlynn?

But there was still one last thing that he just didn't understand.

"Why are you telling me all of this now?"

"Because…" Katlynn signed. "Like I said, I have you beat, Steven. I want your Death Note so I can continue Andrew's dream. So I have an offer for you."

Steven looked at her carefully. It didn't look like she had her Death Note on her…

"I see the way you talk to that girl." Katlynn said, tilting her head in the direction of the picnic and Steven felt his heart skip a beat. "You love her, right? What's from stopping me from killing her too?"

"You wouldn't…" Steven growled.

"Yes I would." Katlynn said with a smirk and he knew she wasn't lying. "You kill someone I love; it would only be fair, right?"

"You want my Death Note…as a trade for her life..." Steven muttered.

"Yes." Katlynn said.

"You'll kill me after you get it, won't you?"

"Maybe…" She said. She didn't get it. She didn't understand at all…

Steven stood in silence, staring at the bushes. He could see Jennie just barely through all of the leaves talking to Luke about something funny. How could something be funny in a time like this?

"Well?" Katlynn asked.

"Alright…" Steven said quietly, walking toward her with narrowed eyes and reaching into his lower back as if to pull the Death Note out from his pants. Katlynn stepped forward as well, smiling triumphantly. She had him defeated. She had won and she would be taking revenge for Andrew. Of course she would still kill Jennie. Steven needed to experience what it was like to lose someone they loved. And then, when he was grieving, she would kill him too.

Steven's hands shot forward around Katlynn neck and before she could react, he was on top of her with his fingers locked around her throat. She gasped and thrashed around underneath him but she was virtually helpless. She couldn't scream. She couldn't breath. The pain was incredible. No! How could this happen!! How could she not see this coming!?

He jerked her head into the ground a couple times savagely, glaring down as he watched her eyes roll into the back of her head and tears flow down her cheeks. "Die you son of a bitch." He growled. Her legs stopped thrashing and he felt her body go limp underneath his own. Five seconds… ten seconds… She was dead. Steven released her neck slowly and found that there were tears pouring down his own cheeks as well.

_Stupid girl…_ He thought, standing up and looking around to make sure nobody had seen. He picked her up and threw her corpse into the bushes. He continued to kick at her until she was well hidden. Unless someone went tromping through and stepped on her face, nobody would spot her body. To the rest of the world, she was already dead so her real death will go unnoticed.

Steven stepped back onto the path, wiping his forehead and breathing heavily. It was the first time he'd physically killed someone. But it was the only thing he could think of. The real Death Note was in his backpack at the picnic and Ryoku was probably still there and would be watching him carefully to make sure he didn't try any funny business. Katlynn had planned everything carefully, almost clumsily, until the very end. She had been so wrapped up in the power of the Death Note and her emotions for Andrew that she hadn't considered that Steven would strangle her to death. But it felt good. She had caused him a lot of misery. But she was dead. It was over. He didn't know where she had put her other Death Note, but he didn't need to. It was probably somewhere that nobody would ever find it, considering she probably wanted it kept hidden.

He walked back into the clearing, feeling a strange sense of accomplishment. He saw that Ryoku and Zando were both on their feet next to the group of girls and Luke on the picnic blanket.

"Look whose back." Jennie smiled.

Steven didn't meet her gaze. He took a seat next to Luke, who was staring at him peculiarly for some reason, and was looking up at Zando and Ryoku. Zando looked confused but the Hunter, seeing that he was still alive and not moving, understood completely.

"She's dead, isn't she?" Ryoku muttered quietly.

Steven didn't answer, or show any sign that he heard him.

"What happened, Steve?" Zando asked. "Am I saved? What's going on?"

"Quiet." Ryoku said and Steven watched as he raised one of the blades and shoved it through Zando's chest. The Shinigami gave a horrified cry of pain and collapsed onto his hands and knees. "S-Steve! H-help me!"

But Steven could do nothing but stare in horrified silence as Ryoku bent over and picked the dying Zando up in both of his arms. With the blades at rest, he could see that Ryoku's hands were actually very fragile looking but they were holding Zando with ease.

"I figured you would kill her." Ryoku muttered softly to him. "And eye for an eye then…" and that was all he said.

Steven watched as the Hunter's wings spread and he flew off into the sky with Zando. He didn't dare look up. He simply stared at the empty piece of land where Zando had been standing not but a minute ago. The Death God was gone. He was really gone. Even though he'd defeated Katlynn, he felt a sense of loss that he had not been expecting and suddenly, everything seemed a little less bright.

"You alright, Steve?" Jennie asked, touching his shoulder and bringing him back.

"I'm fine…" He lied, his stomach twisting uncomfortably. So much had happened too fast. His brain felt a little short-circuited.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

He looked at her and smiled. Maybe he could make this all better after-all. Sure, he'd just been duped by a stupid girl like Katlynn and yeah, he'd just killed her with his own hands…and he would probably never see Zando again but…

"There was actually something…I wanted to tell you..." He said, seeing that Luke was watching the boys play football and all of Jennie's girlfriends were talking animatedly amongst themselves. "I think…actually…I'm pretty sure that…I lo—"

"Ben!!" Jennie shouted suddenly, looking somewhere else and smiling.

Steven blinked and followed her gaze. There was a man walking down the hill bearing a smile on his face and a basket in his hands. _Who was this guy? _Steven thought, feeling a sense of dread in the pit of his chest.

Jennie stood up and ran to the newcomer and Steven watched as she wrapped her arms around him and planted a kiss on his cheek. Steven's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. He felt like he was abruptly falling backward into the ground and everything in sight was fading. Ben returned the kiss happily and set the basket down on the grass. Luke was also watching, but Steven felt completely alone, watching the two of them in slow motion as they parted and joined the rest of the group talking. He didn't hear what they were saying. Everything had fallen apart and he felt like something was ready to burst inside of his chest in an explosion of pain.

"—and this is Steve." Jennie introduced.

"Hi, Steve." Ben greeted with a smile. "Ben. Ben Armstrong."

Steven said nothing and simply stared up at him. Ben looked a little awkward but shrugged it off as Jennie wrapped an arm around his shoulder and smiled.

_Maybe he's just…just a brother…_ A small hopeful voice said inside his head but Steven very much doubted this as he watched them in shell shocked silence for the next few minutes as they all talked happily. How could this be happening? Was he being punished for murdering Katlynn with his own two hands? No. There was no other punisher but himself now. This—this was just a cruel twist of fate. More than that.

"So, Steve, what grade are you in?" Ben asked with a friendly smile.

Steven forced himself to smile feebly as well. "I'm a senior." He said, as if he was proud of it.

"Ah, I remember when I was a senior." said Ben, looking off into space as if reminiscing some grand memory. It occurred to Steven that he looked a little bit older than the rest of them.

"How old are you?" He asked.

"21." Ben said, looking down from his memory at him with a raised eyebrow.

Steven frowned. 21? Jennie fell for someone who was four years older than her? How could this be happening? No. Maybe—maybe he's just really good friends with her. Hell, maybe he's gay!

But this notion was diminished when he saw the look in Jennie's eyes. She was staring at Ben as if he were an angel. _How could this be happening?_

Luke was watching, as if transfixed, as Ben got along with the rest of the boys who all returned with their little football and ate the dregs of the remaining picnic food. Steven felt separated from everyone. Lost in his own, little world. He had to ask. He had to make sure.

"So you're Jennie's boyfriend, right?" he blurted out, knowing such a question would seem obvious to everyone else but he had to ask. He just had to.

"Yes." Ben smiled, staring at Steven oddly. Jennie paid no attention to the question and was talking to Sarah Schmidt on the side-lines.

"I see…" Steven smiled but his insides were filled with a poisonous lead-like feeling that clogged his brain. How could he have not seen this? Not once had he ever guessed that Jennie would have a boyfriend. This whole time…hadn't they had at least a little bit of chemistry? She'd been his friend. She stood up for him against Redman. _How could this be happening? _Repeated over and over in his head. He just couldn't put it together.

And then the pain was replaced with something else—something far more ferocious. It took everything in him to keep it from escaping. Anger and rage pumped and boiled his blood. This Ben. The perfect man. The perfect boyfriend. The way Jennie looked at him, why couldn't _Steven_ be the one she looked at? He looked at her but she paid not attention to him whatsoever. With Ben there, he was nothing. He was invisible.

"I've got to go do something…" He muttered, standing up.

"Where are you going?" Luke asked.

Steven didn't answer. He didn't care that it would look weird to walk away twice now. Nor did he care about giving them a good enough excuse. He didn't care that Jennie loved her boyfriend. He didn't care about what she wanted. She wanted Ben. Steven would fix that.

And when he left, he took his backpack with him. The backpack that held his Death Note…

Luke watched him go with a worried look in his eyes. Nobody else seemed to care that Steven had just disappeared, but Luke certainly did…

_**Half an hour ago…**_

It was a lie. Luke didn't need to take a piss at all. He just wanted an excuse to wander off and ADHD himself some space in the forest away from everyone. And he didn't feel like explaining this to anyone, nor was there anyone at the picnic worth trying to impress so a simple excuse such as "taking a piss" was adequate enough.

He rounded the corner into the forest, glad to be away from them all, and stopped in the middle of the pathway. There was a girl on her knees looking through her bushes at everyone sitting at the picnic. She looked familiar but he couldn't tell from where he was standing. Her face was in the dark.

Luke wondered if he should say something to her, or at least ask why she was spying on them. But he didn't have to. She looked up on his arrival and gave off a little squeak of surprise and fell onto her butt.

"Err…" He muttered awkwardly, walking toward her. But then he stopped, seeing her face under the shadowy pattern of branches and leafs above. "Katlynn?" He asked, shocked.

"H—hey, Luke." She said nervously.

Silence.

"I thought you were dead?" Luke asked, frowning.

"I was faking…" Katlynn shrugged and Luke had a distinct feeling that she was trying to brush it all off as if it were nothing.

"Faking death?" Luke raised an eyebrow.

Katlynn was staring at him with those wide, brown eyes. Luke wasn't sure if he should continue asking questions or if he should just ignore her and leave. He didn't really know her. Maybe met her once or twice when he still went to school but not well enough to understand why the hell she would fake suicide or how she would get away with such a feat.

"Luke." Katlynn stood up, smirking. "You can't tell anybody."

"Why not?" Luke asked casually leaning against a tree and crossing his arms.

"Nobody would understand or believe you, for one." Katlynn said. "But more importantly, because I want you on _my_ side."

"Side?" Luke repeated. "Did you just decide this? What are you talking about?"

Katlynn shuffled around in small pack that he saw resting off the side of the path. She lifted a small, black notebook from within it and showed him the cover where the words "Death Note" were written upon it.

"Death Note?" He asked, still not understanding. Was this some sort of little kid's game that she was trying to force on him?

"I want you to have this." Katlynn said. "There are rules on the inside."

"No thanks." Luke scoffed, turning to walk away.

"Dez was your girlfriend, right?" Katlynn asked abruptly.

Luke stopped in his tracks and looked at her, suddenly angry. "How do you know about her?"

Katlynn looked satisfied about something as she held the Death Note out for him to take. Luke hesitated for a moment, staring at the bony, white letters on the front before taking it from her hand and flipping it open. Written on the first page in blue ink were the words "_Desirea Hungerford commits suicide_"

Luke looked at the inside of the front cover and found more, small, scrawled, bony white words in a bulleted format spelling out a list of rules. He read the first one and blinked. "The person who's name is written in this…will die?"

"Yeah." Katlynn smirked.

"So you're telling me…" Luke glared up at her. "No…you're expecting me to believe that you killed my girlfriend?"

"No." Katlynn said bluntly. "This notebook belonged to your friend, Steven, not too long ago until I managed to steal it from him."

"What?" Luke lowered the Death Note. "Steve wouldn't kill…Dez…" He trailed off, thinking about this possibility with a surprising amount of deepness.

"He wrote it in pen so he couldn't hide it." Katlynn smirked. "That was written there when I found it. It was a pain having to copy it into the fake Death Note I gave him but I managed it."

"How do I know you're not just lying?" asked Luke with a raised eyebrow.

"Since that Death Note used to belong to him, you'll be able to see his Shinigami now." Katlynn said. "When you go back out there, you'll see him."

"Shinigami?" Luke laughed. "Seeyah, Katlynn. I don't know why you faked your death or what you're trying to pull, but it ain't gonna work." He walked away, realizing he still had the Death Note in his hand.

"There's a part of you that believes me." Katlynn called after him. "You'll see for yourself soon enough. And you'll try to find me when you do."

Luke said nothing and left the forest. He rounded the corner and froze, once again, in his tracks. Standing above everyone at the picnic, minding its own business, was some sort of humanoid monster. Long, scaly arms. Black, tangled hair everywhere. One visible eye bulging from its socket and a big, clownish grin spread across its face. Luke nearly stumbled onto his ass at just the sight of it.

_Death God?_ He thought in horror, looking down at the Death Note in his hands. No way. Katlynn was…right? But then…

He quickly got up and went behind a huge tree where he dug up some dirt and put the notebook underneath the earth by a stump so that he could find it easily when he came back for it. If this thing was real, he would want to take another look at it later.

When he returned, he took a seat calmly at Steven's side, not paying attention to what they were just talking about but glaring down at the grass around his feet in silence. He had to act casual. He didn't want Steven knowing. But the way Steve was acting, it appeared as though he couldn't see the Shinigami standing over him either. Nobody could, apparently. It made Luke feel strangely forbidden, like he shouldn't be there. The same thought went through his head over and over. If Katlynn was right, then that meant that Steven had killed Dez using that little notebook. But so much still didn't make sense. Maybe he should talk to Steve about it…no. If Steve was willing to murder Dez…

And a horrifying thought struck him. Zito, Andrew, they'd both died… Steven couldn't be behind their deaths, too, could he? No way. But then again, at the last Night games…hadn't Justin fallen out of a tree and died? No, that was just an accident. Steven couldn't be behind that. But then again, hadn't Sean Church died in front of him as well? No. That was suicide. Right? But with horrible remembrance, he thought of what was written in the Death Note under the ground not too far away. It said that Dez would commit suicide and she did. Could the Death Note make people die any way the user wanted?

All of this came to him so quickly it made his head hurt and he was almost tempted to stand up and wander off again. Instead he stuck to picking at the grass around his feet. Every now and then, the Shinigami would speak to Steven but he would give no answer. Obviously Steve couldn't because they were all surrounding him but Luke was willing to bet that he would respond if they were alone.

And then something happened. The Death God bent over onto his knees, as if some invisible force had suddenly tackled him. "Ryoku!" It shouted wildly. Luke tried hard not to stare. What was going on? What was a Ryoku?

"Steve! Help me!" The Shinigami begged but Steven continued to ignore it as if it weren't there. Luke sat there, listening helplessly as the Shinigami begged and kicked but nobody could hear him as whatever invisible thing on top of it held it prisoner. And then Steven suddenly stood up.

"I got to take a piss." Steven said, using Luke's excuse to leave the group. Luke stared at him as he left. Where the hell was he going all of the sudden?

When Steven returned, Luke sensed there was something different about him. He looked forlorn and tired. The Shinigami was still trapped on the ground beside him and Steven took a seat as if nothing odd was happening at all.

And then, a split second later, the Shinigami had blood shooting out from its chest and Luke watched as it flew off—or was dragged off—into the air by whatever invisible thing had snatched him. Luke didn't dare watch it go. He didn't understand what was going on. Surely Katlynn would be able to explain, right? And his urge to see her again for answers intensified.

_**Presently…**_

And Steven was gone again. Where to, he didn't know. But Luke saw that he brought his backpack with him this time. And he wondered, almost horrifically, if he held another Death Note in there as well…

_Ben is dead, Ben is dead, Ben is dead!_ Repeated over and over in Steven's mind.

He took a seat on top of a log and released his Death Note, flipping it open to somewhere in the middle and taking a pencil out from his pocket. His eyes were wide and his face pale. He rested the tip of the pencil against the paper and hesitated. _Is this right?_ He asked himself dumbly.

_If you kill him…You will hurt her…_The little voice in his head warned. _But if you don't, then you will suffer…then again, if you kill him, you'll only suffer even more at the sight of Jennie in pain…or will you?_

He felt greed and overconfidence swell in his chest. He would be able to comfort her after he died, hold her shoulders and let her cry on him. It would take some time, but eventually, she would see him in a new light and love him just like he loved her. Zando was wrong. You can have love and the Death Note; you just needed to know how to use it!

"_Ben Armstrong" _Steven wrote, followed by "_Benjamin Armstrong" _just in case his full name was Benjamin. It didn't matter. Either way, he was going to die in the next forty seconds. He could feel the swell in his chest start to deplete. Now that he'd done it, he felt a sense of finality. It was greedy, what he'd done. He wasn't ashamed to admit that. It would all work out. This Ben guy, he was just another trial for him. Just another person in his way. He had the Death Note. He had the power. Ben wasn't worthy in his eyes. That's all that mattered.

A minute passed and Steven didn't move. He closed the Death Note and slipped it into his backpack, zipping it closed and staring down at his shoes in silence. Then he heard it. An ear-splitting scream of terror and pain rose from the picnic area behind him. The scream shook his bones to the core. It was Jennie's screams of pain and anguish that filled Maplewood Park that day…

Ben was dead.

The ambulance came and took Ben's body away. Jennie, Steven, and a few of her friends went with him. Steven told Luke that he wanted to be there for her and he appeared to have believed him. Sarah Schmidt held Jennie the whole ride to the hospital. Steven sat next to two other girls who had spent the whole picnic talking to each other but were now staring at Jennie in sad silence. Jennie had stopped screaming but silent tears were still sliding down her cheeks. Steven managed to look sad for her but inside he was secretly happy.

_Sure, it's sad that Jennie's sad but…I'll be able to comfort her in the end and everything will better in the end. The Greater Good, right?_

When they got to the hospital, they all took a seat as Ben was taken away to who knows where. Steven tried to take a seat next to her but the damned Sarah Schmidt never left her side. _Maybe I should kill her too_ He thought savagely, knowing that killing Sarah on the same day Ben died would surely overwhelm Jennie so he could never do such a thing.

"I'm sorry, Jennie." He told her finally, sitting across from her in the waiting room.

Jennie nodded, not really appearing to have heard him. Not the reaction he wanted but good enough. Steven looked down, wondering what he could do. He imagined this scene in his head slightly more romantic. _You're a fool_, the wicked voice in his head said. _You don't love her; you only care about yourself…_

_Shut up, _He told himself, closing his eyes.

"Why are you here, anyway?" Sarah asked him, bringing him out of his trance.

Steven stared, not expecting this. But this was perfect. A chance to make himself look better. "I care about Jennie, too, Sarah." He told her.

Jennie looked at him from behind her tear-glazed eyes and he looked back into them. Everything fell apart all at once. Steven realized, with a horrible, plummeting feeling, that the little voice in his head was right. He was a liar. He didn't care about Jennie, not really. If he really cared about her, he wouldn't have made her cry like this. She didn't know he was the reason behind it, but she didn't have to. It didn't matter what she knew. Steven was the reason she was sad and he didn't care about what she felt until now, looking into those eyes of hers.

"Thanks you." Jennie sniffed, smiling feebly at him.

And Steven felt sick. He couldn't even return the smile. He simply stared at her, horror-struck. He didn't deserve her, not after this. He'd let his emotions get ahead of him. Stupid, immature emotions. He was supposed to be the god of the new world, not a sniveling little brat who killed everyone that annoyed him. He wasn't Andrew, for god's sake!

_You can't have the Death Note and Love…_ Zando's voice said in his head and Steven realized that he was right. He couldn't have love…

About an hour later, Jennie's parents came and picked them all up. Steven met them but said nothing as the two girls and Sarah Schmidt were dropped off at their respective houses. Steven was left sitting alone in the back seat with Jennie after giving her parents directions back to his house.

This was the perfect moment to talk to her and comfort her but Steven couldn't bring himself to do it anymore. "I really am sorry, Jennie." He muttered, seeing that they were getting closer to his house.

"I know." Jennie said. She had managed to stop crying on the ride home at last but he could still hear the sadness in her voice. "What were you going to say to me before, at the park?" She asked suddenly.

Steven blinked. She'd remembered after-all. But even this wasn't enough to clear his conscience. He looked at her and their eyes met again. He had to chose the Death Note. No matter how badly he wanted it, he couldn't have her. He had to let her go. He didn't deserve her and he wasn't meant for love. He was meant for something much greater…

"I was going to say that I hope school starts soon so we could hang out more." Steven lied, his gut twisting. "But now that I think about it, with Kira out there still, I doubt it will."

"Kira…" Jennie's voice cracked. "Do you think he's the one who…?"

Steven knew what she was going to say before she said it. "I don't know." He lied again. "I guess it's possible…"

"Yeah…" Jennie sighed.

They said goodbye when they got to his house and even though Steven did hope that he would see her again, he never would. He watched as her and her parents drove up the road and out of sight before going inside and walking into his bedroom, dropping his backpack on the floor and collapsing into his bed. Zando was gone. His room felt strangely empty and abandoned without the Shinigami's presence and he wondered if he'd ever see him again.

He took out his Death Note, previously Andrew's, and held it up to look at the front cover. "The Death Note…" He muttered. "I wonder who else could've made it this far…"

_**Across the nation at this very moment…**_

Mr. Redman's footsteps echoed off the hardwood floor as he made his way down the long, white hallway underneath the White house. He knocked on the door and a voice on the other side answered "Come in."

The door opened and Redman entered into a large, dark room where in the middle was a big, crimson sofa where four boys were. One of them was sitting on the left side with one leg up on the sofa. The second boy was standing behind him sucking on his thumb. The third was hanging off the back of the opposite side of the sofa like some sort of creature afraid of sitting normally. And the fourth boy was sitting on the couch in front of the third, upside-down with a pen sticking out of his mouth. They were all staring at a massive television screen that gave off the only source of pale light in the room that cast down upon each of the boys making them gaunt and ghostly.

"F.A.T.E.'s." Redman greeted, saluting them.

"How many times do we have to tell you that militaristic greetings bore us?" The boy standing said, turning to face Redman. He had long, messy black hair and looked like he was suffering from some sort of disease."

"Sorry, A." Redman apologized.

"It's fine." A said, "Just don't do it again."

"What do you want, Red-dude?" The upside-down boy asked, not looking away from the television screen. They were watching an old kid's show. Batman was fighting the Joker on top of a building.

"No doubt, you heard about the incident at Hazen High School?" Redman asked.

"Of course." A sighed. "You were there. What info. You got for us?"

Redman walked over and stood in front of the couch to face them all. "I gathered that none of the students at Hazen are suspicious of being Kira."

"Have you?" The boy sitting somewhat normally on the couch asked. He had long white hair and only one of his eyes could be seen underneath his bangs.

"Yes, F." Redman said. "At first, I was curious about one boy in particular. But after hearing his testimony I decided that he is actually quite the opposite of Kira. He was friends with some of the murder victims and survived the Hazen massacre."

"Shouldn't that make him more suspicious?" F asked.

"I agree." The upside-down boy stated. "You're saying he wants to catch Kira just as bad as we do?"

"Indeed, E." Redman said, keeping his calm composure. "I talked to him, he's definitely not Kira. And if I am wrong and by some chance he is, I have a plan that will work out both ways for us."

"What is it?" F asked.

"He joins our investigation." Redman smirked.

F, A, and E all looked at Redman as if he were crazy. The littlest boy, however, continued to cling to the back of the sofa and stare at the television as if entranced by it.

"Is he really that smart?" E asked.

"I don't know." Redman shrugged. "We could put him through tests of course."

"What's his name?" F asked.

"Steven Douglas Leitch." Redman said, taking out a folder that he'd been holding the whole time under his arm. "17 years old. Senior. Bellow average grades, but…none of you were exactly known for good grades when you went to school either."

"He's older than all of us." A observed.

"Age matters not." squeaked the littlest boy on the back of the sofa.

"I don't like this idea." E mumbled, biting the pen in his mouth.

"We can test him." F reminded him.

"Seems like a waist of time."

"He's a survivor of the Hazen massacre and has strong feelings against Kira." Mr. Redman said. "He's intelligent as far as I can tell and—"

"There are thousands, maybe millions, out there with _strong feelings_ against Kira." E said, glaring at the television as Batman delivered a punch to the Joker's face. "What makes this kid so special?"

"Because out of all the kids I picked him." Mr. Redman said. "You four have a lot of power, but I'm afraid you can't decide who wants to help. Next week I'll approach Steven and ask him if he would be interested in joining our investigation. And if he does, you four can decide one what to do with him until then."

"That's the authority I like." A told him with a thin, sickly smile.

"That is all." Redman said, turning around to leave. When he was gone and the doors closed, the four boys all looked at each other.

"Maybe he could be worth something." The small boy said, clutching tightly to the edges of the sofa. "Redman does have sensitive tastes…"

"_Too_ sensitive. I hate him." E grumbled. "And since when do you give a damn about this investigation, T? You sit back there mumbling to yourself all day. _Annoying_."

"Better than listening to you complain." A coughed.

F, A, T, and E all fell silent as the T.V. show ended. F picked up the remote from the side of the couch and flipped it to a news station. "We've been watching Kira in silence for the past few months." He said. "We sent the investigation team to Hazen because of what happened and right when we announced that they were clear of suspicion, 80 percent of the school's students and all the teachers and employees died simultaneously. Ever since then, have there been any other suspicious deaths?"

"I'll look into it." A said, coughing again and pulling a laptop out from underneath the sofa where he took a seat on the floor in the shadow of the couch and flipped it open.

"We need to have utmost care with this." F said.

"No shit, Sherlock." E grumbled.

_**The Fates, that's what they were called. A secret cluster of four boys locked away in a dark room underneath the white house itself. Very few know of their existence. What is their purpose? Why do they investigate Kira so tirelessly? Who are the Fates?**_

On the television screen, there was a list of survivors from the Hazen massacre being shown. On that list, F saw the name Steven D. Leitch with a picture of him. F stared into Steven's eyes in silence, remembering everything Redman told them.

"Are you Kira?"

Part One

END


	29. Rise and Fall

**ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY**

**Rise and Fall**

**Author's Note: **A know there were a few of you out there who decided to just skip some of the chapters that you found boring and whatnot so you could read all the exciting parts like the Andrew vs. Steven and the Steve/Jennie love thing and, of course, the finale. So I decided to make a huge information sheet basically covering the entire story, important plot points that you may have missed, and backstories on each of the characters that might help explain to you why the characters acted the way they did. Because I know I was a little vague with some of the characters backstories, especially Steven's group of friends. So if you don't want to read because you weren't hardcore in love with my story then you don't have to but if you were and can't wait for the sequel, then read up and maybe you'll learn a thing or two.

The Story takes place in Washington State, U.S.A. Most of the story took place at Oliver M. Hazen High School where our main protagonist goes to school. Steven D. Leitch, a senior at Hazen, had to deal with the pains of death long before we met him in our story. Before he went to High school, he had his first, and only girlfriend. Her name had been Michelle Page. Throughout the story there were a couple of very small hints about her (see if you can catch them) When Steven had been going out with her, Michelle had a rough life. Her father was in jail and her mother was abusive and it drove Michelle to cutting herself. Steven tried to help her but she would yell at him and blame him for everything. Eventually Steven got fed up and dumped her. A week later, Steven found out Michelle committed suicide. He blamed himself, of course, for not staying with her and not trying harder to help her. After a while he stopped blaming himself but he never really got over it. It was part of the reason why he liked to help people earlier on in the story, and it even plays a small part in why he gets so attached to a woman he cares about (like Jennie). It's interesting to know this and see that, in the chapter where Steven decides to kill Dez, he does it savagely, saying it's for her own greater good, and making her commit suicide. This is one of the many signs showing that Steven went through a change since the beginning of the story when he wanted to help her with her problems.

When Steven recieved the Death Note, he couldn't believe what he had in his hands. In fact, he bluntly refused to think it was real. But curiosity had gotten that best of him. He felt like he needed to test it out and find out once and for all. So the first person he killed, Ashley Peters, a senior in his sixth period math class, died after he wrote her name in it. If you've read the story, you already know this. What you don't know is that even though Steven was slightly suspicious of her knowing it was him, the truth was Ashley didn't have a clue and Steven was just paranoid. So Ashley died for nothing, though in a way, if she hadn't died, Steven never would've believed the Death Note to be real and this whole story never would've happened so maybe she did die for something after-all. That brings me to my next point. There are a few themes in this story and one of the on-going ones is that everything that happens, happens for a reason. Think about that if you ever do decide to go through the chapters again after you've read this story. It'll make you wonder what could've possibly happened if something, such as, if Jennie never bumped into Steven during the hallway, the whole love thing never would have happened and Steven never would've gone to the picnic and chances are the finale would've been very anticlimactic. Or you think about how if Steven had been a better friend, Zito never would've gotten suspicious and tried to get information out of Andrew and Steven never would've had to kill him in order to defeat Andrew and Katlynn never would've faked her death and, once again, the finale wouldn't have been as climactic as it did. Actually, a lot of what happened in the last few chapters happened due to everything that had been set up perfectly in the previous chapters. Redman. The Genocide. The picnic planning being delayed. Dez dying causing Luke to becoming depressed definately affects the outcome of some of the things that happened in the finale and will carry on into the sequel.

Another ongoing theme that I liked in this story was karma. Steven betrayed Jennie to Mr. Redman and then the Genocide happens and Jennie seemingly forgets about him. Steven kills Andrew and Katlynn gets her revenge by causing the Genocide and making Steven feel miserable. Everything that goes around comes around (I hate that saying because my mom always use to say that to me) is definately something that comes into play a few times in this story and I enjoyed doing so. Phylisophical stuff like that always makes me happy, especially if I manage to pull it off right and I think I managed to do so pretty well.

There is one, small but interesting fact about Steven that was never addressed in the story, at least not directly--He is cynically depressed. Always has been. Of course, he refuses to let anyone know about it. He used to take anti-depressants but soon Steven became mental able to control his depression so that it didn't constantly control his life. However, there were a few times in the story where it got to him and he let his emotions control his actions. Some could argue it's because he's still a teenager and no teenager is a master of their emotions but that is not the case. If Steven wasn't so _easily_ triggered, he would be a master of his emotions. When things get out of hand and everything seems to fall apart, Steven will succumb to tears, as you saw at the end of the Genocide. And why am I calling it a Genocide? By definition, a Genocide is a deliberate act of destruction against an ethical, religious, racial, or national group and a school wouldn't exactly be one of those four things. However, the murder itself on Hazen was deliberate and successful to boot. It was a mass murder of students and teachers, not a specific group of race or religion. Katlynn targeted the school as a whole because she knew that it was being monitered by the government (thanks to Ryoku) and she knew that if she wiped out 80 percent of the school's populace then the survivors would definately be targeted as prime suspects and this action will carry on into the sequel. The "Genocide" triggered future events that will have great importance later on. Another example of _everything happens for a reason_.

Steven's progression through the story was a dark one. In the beginning he wasn't sure if he wanted to use the Death Note but decided that the world was a dark one that needed to be enlightened and that he could be the one to do it. To make it great--his utopia. He never really did have a successful life. Very few friends. Never accomplished or won anything. With the death note he could change all of that. But does that make him greedy? In a way, yes. In the beginning of the story, he never would've sacrificed his friends for the "Greater Good" as he calls it. But towards he end, he killed Zito just to get to Andrew and he killed Dez because she was living a troubled life. And he didn't feel remorse for what he did. Does that make Steven the protagonist or the antagonist? Truth is, in this story there is no protagonist or antagonist, not really.

Now I would like to talk about the Steve/Jennie relationship that went on throughout the story. As I told you, Steven was progressing slowly into darkness (killing friends, betraying, lying) in order to succeed in creating his "Greatest Good world" or "Utopia". And then Jennie was introduced and Steven felt something he'd never felt for someone before. Love. Jennie was Steven's light and possibly on chance of bringing him out of this darkness because she was literally the only person Steven would never kill in order to succeed with the Death Note. He even states (in his thoughts) that the Death Note came second only to her. And like I said earlier, karma plays a part in this story heavily. When he finally goes on that picnic with Jennie, he finds that she had a boyfriend this whole time. And Steven is heartbroken. The end of any chance of redemption. Because he felt so strongly for her and to have it taken away so forcefully, he killed her boyfriend and broke _her_ heart. This was Steven's fall into the abyss. And he realized that what Zando had said was true. The whole story Steven was building up to this moment where he would have to chose between being the Death Note's master or loving Jennie and he knew in the end he couldn't have both. He felt guilty, yes, but you could also say that Steven has become much more of a villain than a hero, despite what he believes. He even murdered Katlynn out of anger and desperation without a second thought.

That was the basic phylosophy throughout the story and I hope you all enjoyed it. Now for some more in depth about some of the characters, in case you missed it.

Luke Bardsley: Steven's best friend. Dropped out of school because he didn't pay attention in any of his classes and deemed them as "not worthy" of his time. His intellegence is much higher than most kids his age and it could be argued that he may be even more adaptable to surprising situations than Steve is. He has severe ADHD and OCD problems which is both a good and bad thing for him. He's able to be super creative because of this, only when he goes into his trances he doesn't pay attention to what's going on around him and is therefor vulnerable. He is a mormon though he hardly is very religious (unlike the rest of his family). He goes to church but doesn't pay any attention because it's all things he's already thought over in his mind during his OCD spasms.

Joshua Zito (Deceased): Steven's other best friend. Not the brightest individual and is prone to be a follower when with his group of friends and will sometimes copy other people's traits. He trys his best, in a way, to fit in and doesn't realize that if he was just himself he wouldn't need to do so. In the end, he was a perfect tool for Steven to use. But there is a reason behind this. When Zito was younger, he was abused by his mom and even though he's happy living with his dad, his dad can be very unreasonable with his punishments and will sometimes push Zito around. He didn't grow up easy and therefor has a problem adapting to social situations with others. He was known as the jackass of the group, as you may have noticed, for his immature opinions involving girls, politics, etc.

Andrew Craddock (Deceased) : Steven's rival in the beginning. Andrew grew up just like Zito with an abusive mother. Only difference was that Andrew had no male role model because his dad had abandoned them. He has a sadistic mind and when he was younger, went out with Catheryne Baker for a while, making her think that she loved him before he dumped her and went out with Katlynn instead. Katlynn is three years younger than him and after dating her for a year, he dumped her to go back out with Baker (who was still in love with him and accepted) and they dated for a while before he dumped HER for Katlynn (who accepted because she thought that she still loved him too) In the end he is good and persuading girls to love him so he could use them in the end for sex. He tried to use this power on Steven, but Steven was too smart and in the end, Andrew was killed.

Katlynn Howser (Deceased) : A sophomore at Hazen High School. She dated Andrew when she was a freshman but was dumped by him at the end of the year so he could go after Catheryne Baker. Because of this, Katlynn had a grudge against her and blamed her for breaking them up. When Andrew dumped Baker and asked Katlynn out again that summer, she humbly accepted because she truly believed that they were soul mates and that she was in love with him. She isn't to fond of Andrew's friends except for Steven. They were somewhat close buddies for a while until he got a Death Note and the battle between him and her boyfriend began. It's sad to look at the beginning of the story when Steven was actually concerned about Katlynn's well being--And then looking at the end of the story when he ends up killing her with his bare hands.

Jacob Allen: A good friend of Steven's. There is a constant joke between the group of friends at school who say that Jacob has "Murder Tourret Syndrome" because of his love for fighting. Jacob is easily the strongest (and nerdiest) of the group. His likes include Nintendo, Martial Arts, and perverted jokes. Which is ironic because whenever he's faced with a lady he becomes quite the gentleman.

Cameron Ball: A quiet one in the group. He and his twin, Bryce, used to be neighbors of Luke's but when they went to Hazen they had to move halfway across the city. He is the same age as Katlynn and has a very pessimistic outlook on life. He also has a tendancy to be the barer of bad news and reports to the rest of the group whenever something bad happens.

Catheryne Baker: "Baker" is what the group calls her, much like how they called Joshua Zito "Zito". She became friends with Steven in their junior year and when she went out with Andrew, Steven had tried to look out for her and tell her that she was making a mistake but she didn't listen and in the end was hurt by Andrew. It is because of this, that Steven's hatred for him began. He considers Baker like the little sister he wish he had (instead of the bitchy, annoying one he does have, Amanda).

Jennie Kofford: A popular, attractive girl that goes to Hazen. She met Ben at the end of her sophmore year and soon the two became lovers. Ben, despite his age, was the perfect man for her and soon she fell for him. She had a rough life growing up, with five syblings and a single mother looking after them. Unlike Cameron Ball, she has a very optimistic outlook on life and believes that everyone deserves forgivness. She's a Mormon and, like Luke, doesn't always follow their strict beliefs and will occassionally skip out on church and let loose and curse or two. She was essentially the perfect girl for Steven and she caught his eye without meaning to. And unknown to Steve, she is suspicious of his feelings toward her. It is unclear the future holds for the two of them at the moment.

Henrick D. Redman: A Government official with a mysterious past. I can't tell you too much about him yet. But as you saw at the end of the story, he is working under the orders of the four young boys he calls "The Fates". He interogated Steven when he went on his mission to search Hazen High School for suspects of Kira. He never truly suspected Jennie of being Kira and used this as a tactic to try and draw out Steven and get him to admit that he was Kira. But after talking to him a few times, he now believes that there isn't a chance that he can be the Kira they're after. In the end, he remains fooled. But for how long? At the end of the story, he brought up the idea to the Fates that they could use Steven to help them investigate Kira further.

The Fates: F, A, T, E. Those are their code names. Remind you of someone?

Zando: The Shinigami criminal behind the whole story. He dropped his Death Note on the earth for Steven to find and when he did, he came to him and told him everything. At the beginning of the story, Zando wasn't sure if he could trust Steven to uphold the powers that the Death Note carried and didn't want to offer him any help. But the more they spent time together, the more Zando grew to become friends with him and soon he was helping him defeat Andrew by spying on him. He was a criminal for his radical beliefs of changing the "Boring" human and Shinigami worlds. He was hunted and taken down by his old friend, Ryoku, and was taken into the sky where his current fate lies unknown to the rest of the world...

Ryoku the Hunter: Ryoku reasearched humans extensively before getting his Death Note and later he became a Hunter because of all the knowledge he had stored up in his head. Because of this, he is able to understand humans a lot more than any other Death God can, and would offer advice to Andrew and Katlynn whenever he was alone with them. It is a mystery as to whether or not the Hunter feels love toward Katlynn or not, but it is stated by Zando that all of the Shinigami in Ryoku's blood line had the curse of falling for a human at one point in their past.

Those are all the main characters that had a role in this story. I would make sub character profiles but I don't care about those people so I won't. And I hope you read this and if you enjoyed the story overall, that you learned a thing or two from this and maybe you'll go back and read it again someday with a new light on what was going down. The sequel won't be up for quite a while because I'm currently writing other stories at the moment but I promise you there will be a sequel.

I had fun writing this story and I hope you had fun reading it. I know it's nothing like the original but I wanted to make something of the same concept on my own and I did. So yeah. I'm not good at awinspiring conclusions to these kinds of things sooo...

May the force be with you!

P.S. I didn't spell check this thing so if there's spelling mistakes (which I undoubtablly believe there must be) then don't hate on me for it please.


End file.
